Endless Love
by Useful Oxymoron
Summary: ShizumaxNagisa and KanamexMomomi Shizuma and Nagisa are living together now and are attending university. But their blissful existence is about to be rudely interrupted when Nagisa's parents come to town. Bit of Drama, plenty of romantic fluff
1. Prologue: A Day in the Life

Hello everyone,

This story is a sorta sequel to my earlier story called 'Happy Happy Joy Joy'. It's not necessary to read that story in advance. This one's a bit more serious than the first one, though there's still plenty of silliness. It takes place some 2,5 years after the Anime. Of course, there are **spoilers** for the entire series.

I've taken some liberties with Shizuma and Nagisa's families for this one, because the Anime's a bit vague on the parenting department. All I had to go on is that Shizuma is from a prestigious family and is obviously not wanting for money, and that Nagisa's parents are often abroad and possibly quite distant.

Kaname and Momomi will not appear just yet, but they'll be here eventually. They're always there. Watching and plotting. :) I hope you'll enjoy the story.

Edit: **Disclaimer** : Forgot to mention last time that I don't own Strawberry Panic! and that this story is shoujo-ai/yuri. Though both are pretty much self explanatory. Besides, if I did own Strawberry Panic!, I'd have give the series a better credit sequence.

* * *

**Endless love**

**prologue: A day in the life**

Shizuma stretched as the morning sun poured in through the shades of their bedroom. She smiled to herself when she felt the warmth of the girl she loved as she pressed against her. She slowly opened her eyes to the vision of loveliness in front of her. Nagisa looked so cute when sleeping... Then again, Nagisa always looked so cute.

They'd come so far since those first days at Miator. Back then, Shizuma had merely seen Nagisa as another pretty thing to cross her path. Now, they were in their very own apartment, very happy and very much in love, enjoying the aftermath of a romantic dinner for two. Gentle lovemaking had been the perfect ending to a perfect evening. In fact, some stings in her head and a few missing memories lead Shizuma to the conclusion that she might had dipped into the wine just a tad too much last night.

Nagisa snuggled against Shizuma in her sleep while she lay there awake, taking in the sight of her beloved girlfriend. Being her together was pure bliss... until her eyes happened to drift in the general direction of the alarm clock. It read: '8.45am. Monday'. It took a few moments for the dulled synapses in Shizuma's brain to start processing this information.

"Chikushou!" Shizuma exclaimed as she realized she was going to be late for class... again. She literally jumped out of bed after carefully disentangling herself from Nagisa and raced to the bathroom. Shizuma jumped in and out of the shower, gathered some clean underwear and tossed on a pair of jeans and a sweater.

After that, she ran to the kitchen to fetch herself some breakfast only to find... empty shelves. She sighed when she realized they hadn't bothered to do groceries this weekend. Shizuma raced back to the living room where they had had their romantic dinner last evening, only to find they had been quite thorough and hadn't left anything edible on the plates. After some searching, the only thing she could find were two small pieces of fried chicken left from their Saturday take-out. She sighed, popped one of the pieces in her mouth and rushed to the door after picking up her bookbag.

Just as she was about to leave, she stopped dead in her tracks. Shizuma smiled to herself: she'd forgotten something very, very important. Shizuma returned to the bedroom and gently tucked in the still sleeping Nagisa. She took a moment to brush a lock of hair from Nagisa's gentle face and knelt down to kiss her softly on the lips. Nagisa stirred and pouted slightly after Shizuma withdrew, obviously wanting more kissage.

"Enjoy your day, Nagisa-chan," Shizuma whispered... before running out the front door and belting down the stairs. She ran and ran to the street corner where she usually parked her car. Shizuma panted heavily when she took out her carkeys and... ended up holding them outstretched on car-door height above an empty parking space.

"Huh?" Shizuma blinked. Until she realized her car was actually in the shop being fitted for a set of new tires.

She cursed under her breath and started running again. Brushing past pedestrians, she finally reached the tubestation three blocks away. She felt elated when she saw the tram already parked at the station. With grim determination, she picked up the pace and literally jumped through the doors, her momentum causing her to crash into the other set of doors on the other side of the tram.

Embarressed, yet satisfied, Shizuma picked herself up and took the nearest seat where she tried to recover from the adrenalin rush. But, oddly enough, the tram's doors weren't closing, and the tram wasn't leaving.

"Uh, miss?" said a kindly looking businessman. "This tram won't leave for another five minutes or so."

Shizuma blushed and avoided attracting any further attention to herself. '_Damn_,' she thought. '_I could have still be kissing Nagisa right now_'.

* * *

By sheer dumb luck, Shizuma made good time and actually arrived just as class was starting. She took a seat in the back of the class and took out her notebook. Advanced French Linguistics was a difficult subject, but ultimately a rewarding one. Still, after such a hasty start of the day, it took her some time to get in the right mood for studying.

University couldn't be more different than life at Miator, but it was refreshing that she was no longer the center of attention. She was no etoile here, which meant no paperwork, no boring meetings and no dull mandatory luncheons, leaving her with a whole lot more time for study and, more importantly, fun.

No more school uniforms... that was the one thing she had to get used to the most. Right now, she was just wearing jeans and a sweater, but despite that, she carried herself with the same grace and style as when she had been Etoile of Miator.

Being part of a mixed gender school was new to her as well. Because of Shizuma's great beauty, she had and still tended to attract plenty of attention from boys of all years. When it became known that she was involved with another woman, that had become less of a problem. Of course, it had only shifted attention from one group to another: most the school's lesbian community was actively trying to seduce her.

Still, Shizuma enjoyed the change of pace. She had made great friends here with many interesting people she would have never had met at Miator... And Miator still held way too many old and often tragic memories that tended to haunt her. Miator was a closed chapter, however. She was just happy to make some new memories for herself.

The first class ended swiftly and she moved on to the next one: Japanese Cultural Studies. Most of Shizuma's curriculum was filled with linguistic and cultural subjects, with some minors in drama, history and botany. Despite the more free environment of University, Shizuma was more dedicated to her studies than she had been at Miator. Ironically enough, her father had sent her to Miator in the hopes that they would teach her more discipline and responsibility. He certainly never objected to Shizuma's strength or free-spirited will, but he felt she needed to balance her desires better, if she were to take over control of the company when he would retire.

Shizuma did like to think she had more of a sense of responsibility these days.

'_Just a bit._

_No need to overdo it_.'

When class was dismissed, Shizuma first went to the computer room to answer some e-mails she hadn't had time for this morning. In the inbox she shared with Nagisa, she found a lot of new mails from Tamao, mostly Kawaii-stuff and silly pictures, no doubt. After deleting some spam advertising personal organ enhancement, Shizuma noticed a mail from a stranger directed at Nagisa. Apparently, this person had read one of Nagisa's stories on the internet and had taken the time to tell her that she liked it. Shizuma smiled at that. She also found the mails from Miyuki and Chikare and replied to them.

After that, she briefly chatted with her dad on her cellphone before heading for one of the lounges. In the lounge, she found many of her classmates relaxing. Akiko, who sat in the corner working hard on giving her Gundam Deathscythe model the right colors, nodded at her while Shizuma sat down at one of the tables with the lunch she had picked up from the cafeteria. Kensuke was piddling on his guitar, working on his latest song, while Yoshi was enjoying a stack of violent manga's and Rie was meditating with her crystals. No real changes here.

"Yo, Shiz," said Takashi, a lean boy with multi-colored hair. "What up? No Nagisa today?" he took a seat at Shizuma's table.

Shizuma smiled at Takashi, a boy she had known since her first year. She and the young anthropology student had met while he had been doing research on the rise of lesbianism in Japanese catholic schools for girls. Shizuma had turned out to be the proverbial well-spring of information and they had been friends ever since.

And Nagisa... ever since they had moved in together in their new apartment, things had become so much better. They could spend so much more time together now that they both lived together and so close to university. They'd often have lunch together in the lounge or the cafeteria. Shizuma chuckled for a moment: Nagisa was so cute when she shot her patented 'Stay away from my Shizuma, you cheap hussy! She's mine! ALL MINE!!'-look at any would-be suitor for Shizuma. It was unnecessary, but still very of the kawaii.

"No," Shizuma said. "She's got no classes today and with midterms coming up, she's staying home to cram."

"In other words, she takes her studies more seriously than you do," Takashi chuckled.

"Ha. Ha. Funny," Shizuma replied dead-pan.

"Hey, hey, hey," Takashi said quickly. "Breezing through classes with maximum results for minimal effort is a trait I admire."

"You'd better," Shizuma smirked.

"Has Nagisa picked a major yet, by the way?"

"Not yet," Shizuma replied. "It's all still a bit overwhelming for her. She's still looking around for subjects she really likes. Nagisa's most interested in psychology, creative writing and history, though. Oh, hold on... I need to tell her I'll be taking care of dinner tonight."

She took out her cellphone and dialed. A recorded message from the phonecompany meant that Nagisa's phone had been switched off.

"Problem?"

"She switched off her phone," Shizuma replied. "She probably doesn't want her friend Tamao to distract her from her studying. Tamao-chan could talk your ears off given half a chance," Shizuma sent Nagisa a text-message, hoping it would reach her in time. She wrote to Nagisa that she would do groceries after class and would cook them a nice dinner.

It was then when she spotted the bag of jerky in Takashi's hands. "Takashi, what is that you're eating?"

"Sour-cream and Salsa pork-rinds," he replied. "Want some?"

"Uh, no thanks," she said quickly. "I'm not really in the mood for pork today."

"How about you join us tonight? Akiko, Kensuke, Yoshi, Rie and myself are going downtown for a long night of culture, philosophy, fast-food, friendship and lots and lots of sake. Interested?"

"Well, Nagisa..."

"Bring her along," Takashi suggested. "It'll be good for her to relax after all that studying."

"Nah," Shizuma replied. "I'd love to, but I have to make sure Nagisa gets plenty of rest... and some real food in her stomach."

Takashi cracked a mischievious grin. "You're so whipped, girl."

Shizuma smirked back before taking a sip of her coffee. "You're **this** close to having this cup of steaming hot coffee poured right into your lap, Takashi-kun."

* * *

The two of them chatted for a while until it was time for classes to resume. The rest of the day was mostly uneventful and after classes were over, Shizuma went shopping for ingredients. She came home with everything necessary to make Nizakana: fish poached in sweet soy-sauce, one of her beloved's favorite foods.

"Nagisa?" Shizuma called out softly as she brought the fish to the kitchen, but there was no reply.

"Nagisa-chan?" she called again as she entered the living room, and found Nagisa fast asleep at the desk. Pens lay on the ground, while her head lay on the books and her pretty face was being illuminated by the monitor of their computer.

Shizuma smiled to herself and gently lifted Nagisa slightly to place a small pillow from the couch underneath her cheek. Nagisa mumbled something in her sleep and then smushed her cheek into the pillow.

Just Shizuma was about to return to the kitchen, she caught a glimpse just what was on the computer.

_"Huh-huh. This sure doesn't suck, Beavis," Butt-head said as he gently rubbed his hands underneath Beavis' Metallica t-shirt._

_"Heh-heh. We're gonna score."_

_"Oh yeah... Huh-huh-huh."_

_'What the...' _Shizuma blinked_. 'Beavis and Butt-head yaoi?!'_

For a moment, she considered that Nagisa might have taken a break from studying somewhere during the day and she had surfed onto this website by chance, only to have those hopes shattered when she saw the e-mail address on the top of the page : 'Shizuma&Nagisahappyfunmail.jp'. She quickly surmised that if StrawberryRed was Nagisa, StrawberryBlue would be Tamao. At least the story was a month old, so Nagisa hadn't been wasting valuable study-time today. Still, she'd definitely have words with Tamao about this later. It was a shame to have Nagisa's talents in creative writing wasted on Yaoi... now, Yuri, that would have been a more worthwhile pursuit.

She smiled and left Nagisa to snooze just a bit longer. She turned on the lights around the house, donned an apron and started work on their evening meal. As the fish was slowly poaching in the soy sauce, Shizuma started cutting the vegetables until she heard a yawn behind her.

Shizuma smiled to herself. As expected, Nagisa had woken up as soon as the smell of food had reached her nostrils. Shizuma kept cutting the vegetables to pretend to be surprised. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of two arms wrapping around her waist, and the closeness of Nagisa's soft body.

"Good evening, Nagisa," Shizuma said softly.

"Hi," whispered Nagisa, suppressing an obvious yawn. "What's smelling so good?"

"Nizakana," Shizuma replied. "It'll be done in about fifteen minutes."

"Actually, I meant your hair," Nagisa said. "New shampoo? Uh... wait, did you say Nizakana? Yummy!"

Shizuma chuckled briefly. "Why don't you go set the table and I'll finish up here."

"Sure," Nagisa said as she reluctantly let go of Shizuma. "Better call Tamao-chan too. She's likely to call the police if she can't reach me anymore today."

About half an hour later, Nagisa sat next to Shizuma in the living room, enjoying the aftermath of their dinner together.

"You could have gone with your friends if you wanted to, Shizuma," Nagisa said. "I would have been okay."

"Nah," Shizuma shrugged as Nagisa curled up against her. "Watching your friends getting hammered is only funny so many times. Besides, somebody had to make sure you'd eat something other than stale rice-crackers and soda. Studying is no excuse to not take proper care of yourself."

For a moment, Shizuma peered deeply into Nagisa's eyes. Immediately, the other girl froze and went into a Shizuma-induced happy stupor, only break out of it when Shizuma looked away and pulled the girl to her chest. Shizuma took a moment to kiss her on the top of the head.

"Wow," Nagisa smiled. "I love how you still put me under your spell."

"Took a picture of you," Shizuma said and pointed past the piano. One wall of their appartment had been devoted to their memories together. Rather than putting their pictures in an album, they stuck the photo's to the wall to create a collage of their life together. There were hundreds of photos overlapping each other, all taken in the two years they had been together. A lot had been added since they had their wedding and honeymoon.

"Where is it?" Nagisa looked for a moment.

"It's right next to the picture we took of that weird hotel in England we had to stay when our rental car broke down. The one with the neurotic owner? What was he called again?"

"Basil something, I think. Oh, there it is," Nagisa said and saw a picture of herself sleeping on top of her books.

"Hey," Nagisa playfully batted at Shizuma. "I'll have you know I've worked hard today."

"Of course you have," Shizuma smiled. "But you just looked so cute. I couldn't resist."

"So many memories," Nagisa said.

"There'll be so much more, Nagisa," she said. "But now it's time for us to go to sleep. You need your rest, Nagisa."

Under some protests, Nagisa allowed herself to be dragged to the bedroom. While regaining the strength to head over to the bathroom to brush her teeth and undress, Shizuma told her goodnight, returned to the living room and collected the dishes to put them in the washer. Not feeling overly tired yet, Shizuma spent some time reading some of her textbooks and taking some notes here and there.

Before she knew it, it was already close to midnight. Shizuma put away her books and went into the bedroom, already finding Nagisa fast asleep. Shizuma and quickly (and quietly) brushed her teeth before joining her in bed. As soon as she laid down, the sleeping Nagisa detected her lover nearby and moved to embrace her. Shizuma closed her eyes to experience a moment of pure bliss as the girl she loved the most in the world flowed into her arms and pressed against her body.

The bliss lasted long after she herself had fallen asleep

* * *


	2. Chapter 1 : What does marriage

Chapter 1 is here and it means trouble in paradise for our girls. Hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 1 : What does marriage have to do with love?**

Shizuma sat at the dinner table musing on how much she enjoyed waking up and finding a steaming bowl of Nagisa's aromatic black coffee waiting for her. She took a tiny sip of the coffee, but no more than that. Nagisa was still in the kitchen working on their eggs, after all, and it was much more fun to enjoy breakfast together.

"How would you like your eggs, Shizuma?!" Nagisa called from the kitchen. "A lot of salt and pepper or just a pinch?"

"I don't mind, as long as it doesn't make a splat on the floor," Shizuma called back.

"Aw!" sounded an indignant Nagisa. "I'll have you know I'm getting a lot better at flipping eggs!"

"So how'd you end up with egg-yoke in your hair yesterday?"

"That was just a fluke!"

Nagisa was true to her word and delivered egg and toast that hadn't had been in close contact with the floor. After Nagisa had put the fried eggs on the plate on the table, she removed her apron and sat down next to Shizuma.

"Well, dig in," Nagisa said eagerly. She watched Shizuma expectantly as the silver-haired beauty cut a small piece of the omelet and popped it in her mouth.

"Delicious," Shizuma smiled at Nagisa. "Have some! It's your creation."

She needn't have told Nagisa that twice. The hungry girl threw herself on the omelet and started to consume it in record time. Shizuma took a big sip from her coffee and looked on with some concern.

"Alright," Shizuma said. "What's going on with you, Nagisa?"

"Uhmmm... nothing," Nagisa muttered with her mouth full.

"Nagisa," Shizuma gently put her hand on Nagisa's back. "The only time when you eat this fast is when you've got something on your mind. You can tell me, sweetie."

Nagisa sighed heavily. "It's just that... I thought this'd blow over. And... It's just that, my parents will be coming to town tomorrow. I only heard yesterday." Shizuma could read in Nagisa's face that it was giving her a good amount of stress. Many conflicting emotions.

"Is that why you were so quiet last evening?" Shizuma asked carefully.

"Yeah," Nagisa sighed. "They're probably just here to tell me how nastybad our love is... in person this time."

"A little late, aren't they?" Shizuma smirked. "We've been together for over two years and all they ever sent you are some letters and some hurried phonecalls." It was unfair to say that. Despite their apparent lack of interest, she Nagisa loved her parents and that their approval was important to her.

Nagisa kept her eyes downcast. "Why couldn't they be more like your dad? He's so nice."

Shizuma nodded. Her father had been very accepting of their relationship and, for one thing, was glad to see his daughter had finally shed the deep-seated grief that had plagued her for years after Kaori's death. "Yes," Shizuma sighed. "It's a shame he's not in the country more often. He just adores you, Nagisa. I... just dread a repeat of the Cosmo-incident."

Shizuma saw Nagisa blush deeply at the memories. Shizuma's father was nice, but he had no sense of shame. While having dinner with the two girls, her father had (rather loudly) quoted from an article in the american Cosmo about 'oral techniques' that would be perfect for a young lesbian couple to make use of. "Yep," Shizuma bit her lip. "There's just some things you absolutely do NOT want to talk about with your dad."

Nagisa blushed even deeper. "Still nice of him to give us the clippings, though."

"Oh, yes that was nice of him," Shizuma coughed. "Uh, change of subject?"

"Please!"

"How about picnic after class today?" Shizuma smiled. "Takashi and Rie invited us to join them and Akiko in the park today. I'll pick up some fresh bread and some..."

"Cake!" Nagisa spoke with pleading puppy-dog eyes.

"Took the word right out of my mouth," Shizuma winked. "Perfect moment to celebrate passing your midterms and the start of the weekend all at once."

"Cool," Nagisa said. "I just hope Akiko can talk about something else than Gundams for a change."

"I've known her for two years, and I gotta say 'no'."

"Okay, then," Nagisa smiled. "Takashi's nice, though. But I've never seen a man eat so many chicken wings in one sitting."

Shizuma chuckled. "Takashi and his weird ideas. He's been trying to talk me and the rest of my classmates into buying Harley Davidsons so we can cosplay the cast of 'Easy Rider'."

Nagisa seemed to zone out for a moment. "Na-gi-sa," Shizuma gently tapped the tip of Nagisa's nose with her index finger to bring her back to reality.

"Oh, sorry," Nagisa blushed. "I was just thinking about you. You sitting on top of a Harley Davidson wearing those tight-fitting leather biker pants, cool black shades and a black leather jacket while your gorgeous hair flows in the wind." Almost immediately Nagisa zoned out again. "Yes," she finally said. "Yes, yes, buy one, yes! I could wrap my arms around your waist and hug you when we ride through town."

"Hm, bit too butch for my tastes, though," Shizuma thought for a moment.

"Aw," Nagisa pouted. "Think about it. You could be the cool bad-girl biker and I could be your woman!"

Shizuma giggled slightly at the mental image. "I thought you already were my woman," Shizuma replied.

Nagisa blushed. "Uh, yeah, I am, but... it's nice to think about it."

Shizuma smirked. She wasn't quite ready to join the Hell's Angels quite yet, but she did have an idea that would be a nice compromise. Shizuma told Nagisa to wait and rushed into the bedroom. After rummaging through her dresser for a moment and changing her clothes, she came out of the bedroom wearing an old pair of jeans, a pair of black boots and a pair of black shades.

"Come on, Nagisa. I'll drive us to Uni," she said while lowering her shades slightly to peer Nagisa directly in her eyes. She chuckled briefly when she saw Nagisa's mouth fall open for a moment. It was nice to know that after two years, she could still stun her beloved.

* * *

Though they enjoyed hanging out with their friends, Shizuma was painfully aware that Nagisa got more and more nervous as time progressed. And as Shizuma was driving towards the hotel where Nagisa's parents were staying, Nagisa was quiet and kept looking out of the window.

Shizuma smirked for a moment and then started to drone. "Gundam 02, as the Deathscythe is code-named by OZ forces, is equipped with standard vulcan guns and machinecannons for ranged weapons. However, its primary armament is its large, deadly beam scythe, capable of slicing through enemy mobile suits like a knife through hot butter."

"Aaaaaah," Nagisa giggled. "Don't you start too! I already learned more about Gundams than I ever wanted to know."

"Made you laugh," Shizuma winked.

Nagisa half-smiled. "Thanks, Shizuma."

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Shizuma asked after parking her car in front of the hotel.

"It's probably for the best if you stay here," Nagisa twittered nervously. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be cold, it's just that..."

"I understand," Shizuma replied with a smile and laid a hand on Nagisa's shoulder. "I'll be right here if you need me, okay?"

"Thanks, Shizuma," Nagisa smiled and leaned in for a brief kiss. "We'll go dancing afterwards, right?"

"Sure," Shizuma smiled. "Take as long as you like, sweetie. I'll be waiting for you."

Nagisa steeled herself and opened the door. As if her feet were weighed down with lead, Nagisa slowly stepped into the hotel lobby. It was a nice hotel, if a bit opulent. Certainly her parents' style. She figured the company her parents worked for were picking up the tab.

"Miss, can I help you?" asked the lobby attendant.

"Uh, yes," Nagisa said. "Can you, uh... I mean, I'm looking for the Aoi family. Aoi Orito and Aoi Kaede. I'm Nagisa, they're expecting me."

Again there was a long trek to the room in which her parents were staying. Step by step, inch by inch... until she stood in front of the door to room 512. She sighed heavily and raised her hand to knock. A dull thud on oaken wood.

The door opened... and she was immediately swept up in a hug.

"Nagisa-chan!" sounded the joyous voice of her mother, the mother she hadn't seen in three years. "Look at you. Look how tall you are. You're almost a woman now, Nagisa-chan." Everybody always told her Nagisa took after her mother, and the resemblance between them was uncanny.

Nagisa took them in, her mother smiling at her, and her father looking at her sternly from the couch in the room. Three years whole she hadn't seen them. That was longer than she had known Shizuma. In fact, her only contact with her parents had been through letters, some hurried phonecalls and the occasional e-mail. A mixture of joy and worry filled her. Joy because despite everything, she did love her parents. Worry, because they would undoubtedly try to split her from the woman she loved.

"Please," her father said with the usual hard edge in his voice. "Sit."

Her father had always been a stern and harsh man. He always expected to be obeyed. She tried to look away from her father's gaze and looked about the room. It was nice, well-furnished and certainly very large for a hotel-room. A separate bed- and living room, nice paintings on the walls, a set of leather chairs and couch.

"Yes, sir," Nagisa bowed. And so Nagisa found herself sitting opposite to her parents, already feeling intimidated. She didn't know what it was, but under her parents' gaze she always felt as if she was a scared five year old again.

"You're going to college now," Orito said. "That is good."

"Yes, sir," Nagisa replied, her head bowed and her eyes downcast. "I, uh, haven't picked a major yet, but I'm looking around."

"I am disappointed that you haven't chosen to go to Tokyo University, like we expected," Orito spoke with sight disdain. "It would have looked better on your resume."

"Orito," Kaede admonished, then turned to Nagisa. "You've shown yourself to be a very mature young woman, Nagisa-chan. You have your own apartment now and..."

"Not her own apartment," Orito interrupted. "That's what we wanted to talk to you about, child. About you and this... Shizuma."

Nagisa sighed heavily. "You've made your feelings about me and Shizuma quite clear already, sir."

"Not clear enough, it seems," Orito shook his head. "It's time for you to start taking some responsibility, girl. You're seventeen now and..."

"Eighteen..." Nagisa corrected softly.

Orito frowned. "Excuse me?"

"I turned eighteen five months ago, not seventeen, sir."

An uncomfortable silence followed.

"Well, uh," Orito replied. "That's beside the point. What I'm trying to say is that it's time to stop playing make-believe. This is not school, this is real life. You can't play around anymore."

"P-play around?" Nagisa stammered. "But... Sir, I love Shizuma."

Kaede took Nagisa's hand and squeezed it slightly. "I'm sure you believe you do, Nagisa-chan, but it's not a real love. It can't be a real love. You've matured, Nagisa-chan, it's time to move on now. It's time to do God's will to find a husband and start a family. It's time to leave this silly girl love of yours behind."

"I... I can't believe what I'm hearing," Nagisa shook her head. "It's..."

"Listen up, girl," Orito said harshly. "It's time to stop this before it gets out of hand. This Shizuma of yours isn't even Catholic."

Nagisa sighed. That much was true. Nobody was more surprised than Nagisa when she found out that Shizuma was, in fact, Shinto.

Orito spoke. "There's somebody who would very much like to meet you, Nagisa-chan. His name is Kawatsuki Hikaru. He's a very spiritual and educated young man who's looking for a wife. He's from a good, respected family, can more than provide for your needs and would very much like to start a family with you."

"But... but... Sir," Nagisa replied, desperately avoiding the soul-piercing gaze of her father. "But Shizuma and I..."

"You'll have to leave Shizuma in the past, honey," Kaede spoke softly. "For your own sake, as well as hers. Hikaru-san is such a nice boy. I've already met with him. He'll treat you well and will respect you."

"And remember your duty towards your family," Orito added.

Nagisa weakly held up her right hand, sporting the beautiful ring that Shizuma had given her the night she'd asked her to marry her. "Shizuma and I are married. I can't just..."

Orito slammed his fist on the coffee table, startling Nagisa who let out a strangled cry. "That marriage is a sham and you know it! It isn't worth the paper it's written on, no legal body would ever recognize it! It's all make-believe and that is going to stop. You ARE going to meet Hikaru and you ARE going to like him!"

Tears streaked across Nagisa's face as she started to sob uncontrolably. Sure, she had expected resistance and especially from her father, but not this kind of hostility. All day she had been piecing together an impassioned speech. In her mind, she had held this speech in front of her parents many times today. She'd tell them how much Shizuma meant to her and how much she meant to Shizuma. How they had so many plans for the future and how strong their love for each other was. Now that her father was sitting in front of her, looking at her with those baleful eyes she feared to much, she found that she just couldn't. Desperately, she wanted to stand up to her father. To tell him that her marriage mattered to her and to Shizuma... that he could take his wishes and stuff them where the sun don't shine. But under his gaze, she couldn't be anything else than frightful five year old again cowering in front of him.

Nagisa felt like such a coward. Literature from all over the world had so many stories about people standing up to fight for what they believed in, but as much as Nagisa wanted to fight for love, she found that she was just too afraid to go against her father.

"Dear Lord," Orito sighed. "We should have never let your sister and her 'special friend' talk us into letting Nagisa-chan attend that damn school, Kaede."

"You leave my sister out of this!" Kaede spoke forcefully. Orito nodded slightly at her, his way of offering an apology

"Shizuma's father accepts us," Nagisa whispered. "Why can't you?" It was a last ditch effort.

"I already told you. You can't go on living like this."

Nagisa whispered softly. "But... I don't love him. How could I love him? I have never even met him?" '_Plus, I'm not exactly into boys_' Nagisa wanted to add, but didn't dare to.

"Love?" Orito rumbled in laughter for a few seconds. "Love? What does marriage have to do with love?!"

"ORITO!" Kaede admonished.

Orito seemed startled for a moment. "Ahum, well... It's time to grow up and start a proper family, Nagisa-chan," he spoke with uncharacteristic softness.

"But... this is the 21st century," Nagisa tried to counter. "If family is the issue, there's so many options open to us if Shizuma and I'd want to have a child. And there are so many children without parents who deserve love too."

Orito blinked. "Oh, dear god, tell me you two aren't actually considering this."

"We, uh, talk about it, sometimes," Nagisa half-smiled. "But Shizuma says we should first both graduate from college before we..."

"Well, we have to thankful for small mercies," Orito sighed. "Child, do you really want to hear the 'abomination in the sight of God'-speech? Should I tell you where the road this deviant behavior put you on will lead?"

That was it. Totally below the belt. It was just too much for Nagisa. She burst into tears and ran out the door.

"Nagisa-chan!" Kaede moved after her, but when she peered into the hallway, she could already see Nagisa rounding about the corner. She sighed heavily and returned back to the couch where her husband was calmly reading the paper again. "Orito!" Kaede shook her head as her husband sat back in his chair and sighed heavily. "Was that really necessary?"

"We have to be harsh, Kaede," Orito sighed. "The world out there is harsh and Nagisa-chan has to face reality. Now we just have to make sure she'll meet Kawatsuki-san. Don't worry, Nagisa'll do as she's told. We raised her that way."

Kaede shook her head. "Because it's her duty to her family, right?" she said, as much a statement as it was an accusation.

"Hm," he replied gruffly. "Ah, I see there's an art exhibit at the local library. Perhaps we should go tomorrow. Hm, kabouki play at nine, that sounds interesting. There's plenty of entertaining things to do in this city."

Shizuma was just listening to a boring political chat-show on the local radio, when she saw Nagisa running towards her. She felt her heart skip a beat when she saw tears steaming down Nagisa's face. Nagisa dove into the car while still crying profusely. Shizuma offered her beloved a hankerchief, which she eagerly took.

"Nagisa..."

"Drive," Nagisa sniffed. "J-just drive."

Shizuma did so and drove calmly away from the hotel for a while. She'd switched off the radio, and the only things that could be heard as they drove into the evening were the slight hum of the engine and Nagisa's heart-shattering sobs.

"I was wrong," Nagisa said. "I- I should have asked you to come with me. I'm so sorry."

"Well," Shizuma tried to offer an encouraging smile. "Nothing new, right? We already knew that they don't approve of us being together."

Nagisa nodded weakly.

"Hey," Shizuma took Nagisa's hand. "It's going to be okay, sweetie."

Nagisa sniffed. "I... I just wanna go home. Can we go home? Please?"

* * *

Shizuma had become increasingly worried about her beloved Nagisa. When they had gotten home, Nagisa hardly talked. She mostly sat on the couch apparently deep in tought. Shizuma had gently tried to probe what had happened at the hotel, but Nagisa had not been forthcoming. And seeing it only made Nagisa sadder, she had stopped probing.

Moreover, Nagisa wasn't hungry. Shizuma knew like no other how Nagisa's mood affected her eating patterns. Nagisa ate fast when she was nervous, she ate slowly when she was enamoured, she ate cake when she was happy, she ate junk when she was stressed. But Nagisa not eating at all... that was a bad sign.

The silence in their apartment was deafening. Shizuma killed some time by taking care of her bonsai-trees in the living room, but made sure to keep an eye on Nagisa at all times. Poor Nagisa only sat there on the couch, looking very sad. And Shizuma felt utterly powerless because there was nothing she could to help her at the moment.

Not a word was said when the two lovers decided to go to bed. Shizuma was the first in bed, after brushing her hair. She lay on her side, watching Nagisa brush her teeth in the bathroom. After taking the ribbons from her hair, Nagisa emerged from the bedroom, walked around the bed and slipped underneath the duvet. Since Nagisa lay on her side with her back towards her lover, Shizuma saw it as an invitation for an embrace.

Nagisa stiffened when Shizuma's soft hand touched her shoulder. But Shizuma was completely shocked when Nagisa actually recoiled and moved away from her.

"N-nagisa?" Shizuma whispered, but Nagisa didn't answer. Shizuma sighed sadly... no doubt Nagisa wanted some space right now, and she had to respect that wish. But that didn't mean she had to like it.

Sleep didn't come easy. Not for Shizuma and, judging from her breathing pattern, not for Nagisa either. She wasn't used to seeing the overly affectionate and open Nagisa being so distant towards her. Shizuma wanted to make it better, but she didn't even know what had happened to her beloved.

Time passed. She had no idea how exactly how much time had passed, but at some point, she heard Nagisa slipping out of bed. Shizuma pretended to sleep for a moment, then slowly rolled to her other side. When she opened her eyes, she saw Nagisa sitting on her knees in front of the window. Bathed in moonlight as she was, Nagisa was a vision of loveliness. She was silently praying and for a moment Shizuma tried to hear what Nagisa was whispering, but couldn't make out the words.

After a few minutes, Nagisa rose to her feet. Shizuma quickly closed her eyes and pretended to be sleeping again. She heard Nagisa slipping in bed again.

"Shizuma?" whispered Nagisa. "Are you asleep?"

For a moment, Shizuma was torn about answering or not, but before she could come to a decision, she felt an arm wrap around her waist and two soft lips pressing against the side of her neck. Nagisa settled against her and held her tightly.

Shizuma relaxed as she felt Nagisa's warmth and felt some of the worries drifting away.. "Nagisa?" she asked softly, but judging from her lover's shallow breaths, she was already asleep. Shizuma smiled and put her hand on top of Nagisa's, clutching it to her chest before slumbering into dreamland as well.

It was a good sign, but Shizuma still knew that something was very, very wrong.

* * *

Yikes, I didn't expect Orito to come out as hateful as he is now, but he does serve his purpose. Poor Nagisa.:(


	3. Chapter 2 : The Dynamic Duo

A new chapter has been finished. Hope you'll enjoy. The other pairing of this story makes an appearance in this chapter.

**

* * *

****Chapter 2 : The Dynamic Duo**

Shizuma groaned as she stuffed her head underneath her pillow to keep the sun from her eyes. By student tradition, and unless she and Nagisa had other plans, Saturdays were for sleeping in. Usually, she and Nagisa would lazy about in bed or hang around the house taking part in some non-school related non-strenuous activity.

This time however, she found the other side of the bed cold and devoid of Nagisa. She made a grab for her bathrobe and donned it as she groggily rose to her feet. Though Miator preferred its students to be alert and punctual, Shizuma had quickly adapted to the unwritten college student rule not to rise before noon on weekends after she had graduated. She yawned slightly and noticed the time. 10:32 am. Way too early for the average college student.

"Nagisa?" she called but could not find her in the kitchen. Though Nagisa had been up first, she hadn't started breakfast yet. A quick inspection also showed the TV and Nagisa's Wii to be untouched. She was about to call out again when she noticed Nagisa on the phone out on the balcony. The glass door was closed, but it was obvious that Nagisa was quite upset with whomever she was on the phone with.

Shizuma watched Nagisa for a moment. Nagisa seemed meek and frightened, close to tears. Shizuma was about to step onto the balcony when Nagisa switched off the phone and slid the door open.

Nagisa gasped for a moment when she noticed Shizuma standing in front of her. The two lovers stared at each other in silence for a moment.

"Are you alright?" Shizuma asked.

Nagisa nodded slightly. "It, uh, it was my father."

Nagisa allowed herself to be taken in a comforting embrace. But even though they were in close contact, Shizuma couldn't help but feel there was something wrong. Nagisa seemed very distant to her. When they had first became lovers, Nagisa still had the tendancy to be intimidated by Shizuma. Even after they had first made love, it had taken Shizuma months to convince Nagisa to stop calling her 'Shizuma-sama'. They'd been getting closer ever since that time, however, but now it seemed as if... as if...

Shizuma was certainly no stranger to depression, and to see the first signs manifesting in the love of her life was painful and worrying to her. Nagisa was always sad after getting a phonecall or a letter from her parents, mostly stemming from the fact that despite how much Nagisa would want for her parents to accept Shizuma into her and their lives, her parents constantly and bluntly made it clear that that was not going to happen. And with every such refusal, Nagisa would get sadder and sadder.

"Shall I fix you some tea, Nagisa?" Shizuma asked, to which Nagisa shook her head. "Nagisa, tell me what happened. Let me help you."

Nagisa smiled, broke the embrace, but slid her hands across Shizuma's arms to finally hold on to her lover's hands for a moment.

"Thank you, Shizuma, but... this is something I have to deal with myself. I... I have some thinking to do. I'm going out for a while. I don't know when I'll be back yet, but..."

Shizuma nodded. Her lover needed some space, some breathing room. She could respect that, even if she was getting more and more worried about Nagisa. She watched Nagisa get her coat and head to the door. Just before she left, she stopped for a moment.

"Nagisa," Shizuma spoke, almost a whisper. "Please. Don't shut me out, Nagisa."

"I love you," Nagisa said softly and without looking at Shizuma. But it sounded differently from the way she usually said it. It was without joy, and almost without feeling. Almost as if she was trying to convince herself that everything was going to be alright. "So very much..." Nagisa added, with more feeling and looking over her shoulder to Shizuma this time

Shizuma felt the overwhelming urge to rush to Nagisa's side to comfort her and to tell her that everything would be alright. But she sensed that that wasn't what Nagisa needed at this time. "I love you too," she tried to smile and tried to convey in those words all the feelings she had for the girl standing before her.

She saw Nagisa's eyes well up with near-tears for a moment and smile warmly at her. And then she was gone.

* * *

After Nagisa had left, Shizuma tried to keep herself occupied, but her thoughts kept drifting to her love. No matter what she did or what she tried, her apartment seemed a little grayer than it had been before. Her bonsai gave her no joy, nor did her flowers. She couldn't concentrate on her reading. Eventually, she took a seat at the piano and tried her hand at a little Handel, but somehow the music simply wouldn't flow. She moved from Handel to Mozart, from Mozart to Bach, but all symphonies were mercilessly butchered due to Shizuma's lack of focus. Her last attempt was trying to play Mancini's Baby Elephant Walk, but she simply wasn't in the mood a goofy cheerful piece like that. The recital ended with the telltale clang of two fists slamming into the keys.

Leaving the piano behind, she tried to take a look at some of her textbooks. It didn't take long for her to put them down again. She switched on the TV, but discovered today to be a slow news day. With the TV still on, she moved to the kitchen to fix herself something to eat in the afternoon, but all she found was a can of tomato-soup two days past its expiration date. Shizuma hardly enjoyed the lukewarm soup after microwaving it, but it was filling at least.

She was about to go outside for a bit of a walk, when the doorbell rung. Shizuma looked through the peep-hole and saw a middle-aged woman with an uncanny resemblance to Nagisa standing in front of the door. She took a few deep breaths and opened the door.

"Yes?" she asked carefully.

"Kajitsu," the woman bowed gently, a gesture Shizuma mimiced. "Are you our daughter's girlfriend? Shizuma-san?"

"Aoi-san, I presume?" Shizuma replied. "A good day to you as well. I'm afraid Nagisa isn't in."

Nagisa's mother nodded. "That's alright. I would like to talk to you, if you would allow it."

"Please, come in."

A few moments later, Shizuma and Nagisa's mother were sitting at the dining table enjoying a cup of tea that Shizuma had hastily prepared.

"I like your apartment," Nagisa's mother said as she looked around.

"Thank you. Nagisa and I put a lot of work in it," Shizuma replied. Of course, Nagisa's mother was right. She and Nagisa had fallen in love with this apartment the moment they first viewed it. It was seasonably large, and had a lovely view of the city and the sea beyond. Aside from that, it was the first thing that they owned together. They had had so much fun decorating and furnishing it a couple of months ago. It had both something of Nagisa's and something of Shizuma's touch. Part of the balcony had been turned into a miniature greenhouse and there were holders for Shizuma's plants and bonsai all over the appartment. One of Nagisa's ideas was to have some planks with rows of stuffed animals at strategic places. It was very difficult to keep it dust-free, but it did add greatly to the decor.

"Aoi-san," Shizuma asked.

"Please, call me Kaede."

"Kaede-san, then," Shizuma corrected herself. "Why are you here?"

"Well, I... just wanted to talk to you for a moment," Kaede said. "About you and Nagisa."

Shizuma nodded. "Nagisa was very upset. Still is," she said coldly. "She won't tell me much of what you've talked about yesterday, but..."

"Orito, that's my husband, might have been a little too harsh to her," Kaede offered. "He's always been very strict with her. You see, we're very concerned about Nagisa. And about her relationship with you."

"I love my wife," Shizuma stated bluntly. And she meant it.

Kaede nodded. "I... I don't doubt that you love Nagisa. That's not in question. We're just... worried about her."

Shizuma could feel the forced politeness coming from the both of them in the air. She could practically taste it.

"We're worried that she's living a fantasy. Again, I don't doubt that you love Nagisa or that she loves you, but... isn't this just a girl's love? She's so young still. This marriage. Forgive me for saying so, Shizuma-san, but it isn't real."

Shizuma narrowed her eyes. "Our wedding was real to us. Our marriage IS real to us. All our friends were there. My father was there. Nagisa's aunt Konoko was there. You were both invited, but you didn't show. And that caused Nagisa _real_ pain." She didn't mean to have brought it so harsh, but her memories of the happiest day of her life were marred by the image of Nagisa standing on the hill waiting for her parents. Her father had told her later that Nagisa had asked him to delay the ceremony slightly on the off chance that her parents might have shown up in those few minutes. But they never did.

Kaede bowed slightly. "I have overstepped my bounds. Gomen nasai, Shizuma-san. It is just that... this world is not the sheltered life of the Strawberry Dorms. There is cruelty here and misunderstanding. Not everybody will accept your relationship. You and Nagisa might have trouble finding jobs or become the victim of a hatecrime. Some might consider you both as... socially undesirables. I would hate to see that happy to my little girl."

"And so do I. But isn't that all the more reason to hold on to our love?" Shizuma said. "And there are plenty of people who do accept us. We have friends who just see us as two persons in love... who just happen to be both women."

Shizuma had never met Nagisa's parents, but she had had certain preconceptions about them. She had expected them to be vastly disapproving of their relationship out of religious reasons and that they would see her as the Big Bad Evil Dyke who had stolen their precious daughter's innocence. But Shizuma was instead confronted with a woman who not only treated her with a measure of respect, but also seemed genuinely concerned about her daughter's well-being, future and social standing. '_It would have been easier for me if she had just been a complete jerk'_, Shizuma thought.

"My sister Konoko," said Kaede, "she's... like you... But she has a family. A husband and two children. But she also has her lover Yuki. Konoko and Yuki can be together regularly, while Konoko still has the social graces and standing of a family of her own. Isn't... Wouldn't such a thing be possible for you and Nagisa?"

Shizuma blinked once... twice. "Are you asking me to become Nagisa's mistress?"

"It would be a solution that would be acceptable," Kaede spoke. "It would allow everybody to benefit. The family would be preserved, Nagisa would gain the social status she deserves while still being able to see you."

"Yes," Shizuma sighed. "Everybody'd be happy... except me and Nagisa. We'd be together, but in secret. We'd be the skeletons in the closet of a family that's living a lie."

"It works for my sister, Shizuma-san," Kaede spoke. "She and Yuki have been together for longer than she and her husband have been. For over twenty years. It has worked out fine."

"Yet your sister did not fight for her love and instead hid behind a fake marriage," Shizuma spat, but immediately regretted her words. It had been a different time when Konoko and Yuki had first become lovers, after all. There had been far less choice in these matters.

"You do not know my sister well enough to say that, Shizuma-san."

"I regret my words," Shizuma said. "I apologize."

"Apology accepted," Kaede replied.

"The point is, these are different times," Shizuma replied. "More and more people are accepting of a love like ours now. Believe that I love Nagisa deeply, and that I would never do anything to hurt her."

Kaede looked thoughtful for a moment. "Nagisa told me you are considering starting a family of your own. Is this true?"

Shizuma smiled at this. "Nagisa and I have a lot of plans for our future. We'd be lucky if we could even make half of those plans reality, but it's fun to think about it. If we do decide to adopt, it's not something for the near future, though. Only when we're both ready to carry the responsibility to take proper care of a child."

"I urge you to give Nagisa the choice to have a family of her own," Kaede stressed. "And to do not hold Nagisa back if she chooses for that."

"Will you promise not to hold Nagisa back if she would prefer to stay with me?" Shizuma asked.

Kaede thought for a moment. "I can't promise that," she finally said.

"An honest answer," Shizuma replied. "But if that is your answer, I cannot not make any promises to you either." Shizuma had wanted to be much harsher, but felt she had to tread carefully.

"I see," Kaede spoke. "I just hope that, if things go well between Nagisa and Hikaru, you will not stand in their way..."

Shizuma frowned. "Excuse me? Hikaru?"

Kaede seemed surprised for a moment, and then gasped. "Oh, my apologies. I... I assumed Nagisa told you."

"Told me about what, exactly?" Shizuma felt her heart constrict. She was about to hear something she really didn't want to hear.

"Allow me to explain For a couple of months, our family has been in contact with the Kawatsuki family. Hikaru is a handsome, smart boy who is eager to start a family with our daughter, according to the Kawatsukis. They will meet each other for the first time tonight and will have dinner for two at a romantic restaurant. They have a lot of common interests, so we're hoping things will work out between them. I'm so sorry. I thought Nagisa had told you."

Shizuma felt as if she had been hit in the chest with a sledge-hammer, and then driven over by a steam-roller. She felt her heart pound in her chest for a moment. Kaede mouth moved, but Shizuma did not hear the words.

"You... you haven't even seen Nagisa for three years and now you're... arranging a marriage for her?" Shizuma spoke softly, biting down on her lip to contain her anger and grief.

"No... no, not at all. We're hoping for it, of course, but we won't press Nagisa into a loveless marriage... Or, I will not let my husband press her into a loveless marriage, at least, you can trust me on that. We picked Hikaru from a long list of eligable candidates and he was a perfect match for her."

"I... Nagisa... She didn't tell me about this at all."

"Nagisa deserves happiness," Kaede spoke as she rose from her seat. "I thank you for your conversation and the tea, Shizuma-san. I hope you will take my words to heart and give Nagisa a choice. I will let myself out. Thank you again. I hope you will do the right thing, if you really do truly love our Nagisa as you say you do."

Kaede bowed slightly and left the saddened Shizuma to watch her leave.

Shizuma stared blankly in front of her for a moment, trying to process what she had just heard. Nagisa... some boy named Hikaru... This couldn't be happening, it just couldn't. But no, Shizuma couldn't believe it. Nagisa would never go for it. Nagisa loved her. She had heard it in her words, saw it in her eyes and in her smile. But... what if? Just what if?

_'No,'_ Shizuma told herself. _'NO! I loved Kaori and I lost her to death. I couldn't do anything about that. But now, I love Nagisa. And I'll be damned before I'll lose her to ignorant bigotry! And I definitely REFUSE to play second fiddle to some boy!'._

She had to do something, but she had to find Nagisa first. If she could just talk to her. Just talk... No doubt Nagisa was only going along with this because her parent make her. If Shizuma could just tell her that Nagisa wasn't alone in this, that she was there for her no matter what. Then maybe they could start working towards a solution. Together.

A quick phonecall revealed that Nagisa had her phone switched off. She thought of going out and check out every single restaurant in town... but this city was bigger than it looked, and it would simply take too long.

Though she was loath to do so, she dialed again. This time, it was the number of the only two people who could possibly help her.

* * *

"Say it again. Please. It sounds so good."

Shizuma sighed heavily. "I... would like your help."

"That wasn't the word you used last time."

"I... _need_ your help," Shizuma admitted.

"Say it again, make it roll over the tongue a bit more this time."

"You are really pushing your luck, lady!" Shizuma fumed.

"Easy, easy," Momomi broke in. Shizuma relaxed slightly while Kaname took a sip from her coffee. The attention from the clientele in the cafe that their raised voices had brought to them slowly started to die down. The two ex-Spicans had barely changed at all the past two years. Kaname was wearing casual clothes and had a black baret on her head, while Momomi wore a snazzy suit finished off with a red baret on top of her head.

Despite that the two girls were attending the same university as she was, Shizuma had had very little contact with them other than greetings in the hallways or superficial chats during lunch hours. She was however quite aware of the reputation they had built up over the past year. Many rumors were floating around about them. One rumor stated that they had disinherited themselves because they refused to marry the persons promised to them, favoring to stay together. Another rumor stated that they were connected to a group of people who preferred to remain in the background at all times. A third rumor was that they could find anything anywhere for anyone, for the right price, through their personal network of contacts. A fourth rumor was that they were actually agents of MI5 on a secret mission.

Shizuma didn't doubt many of these rumors had been spread by them themselves in a very calculated plan of disinformation and redirection. It made them both look important and mysterious. Already Kaname and Momomi had managed to gain positions in important student groups.

After Shizuma had called them, Kaname had suggested the three of them meet up at a nearby cafe. She just hoped some of the rumors were true and that they could do something to help her find Nagisa in time.

"Sorry," Kaname shrugged. "I was just basking in the glory of someone no less than the etoile-sama asking us for help. I take it this is serious, right?"

Shizuma nodded. She told the two ex-Spica students about what had happened. How Nagisa had met with her parents and how this had somehow created a rift between the two lovers. How she would be meeting with a boy at a local restaurant somewhere. All she had was a name to go on, Kawatsuki Hikaru.

"That sucks, Shizuma-sama," Momomi said. "There must be something we could do to help. We understand. We're not heartless, you know."

"Have no fear!" Kaname announced proudly. "I have a cunning plan which cannot fail!"

Shizuma raised an eyebrow. "This cunning plan of yours wouldn't involve trying to introduce Nagisa's mother to the pleasures of girl-girl love by molesting her, would it?"

"Uh..." Kaname avoided Shizuma's gaze. "...maybe..."

"Oh, dear God," Shizuma felt the sudden need to rub her temples.

"Plan B, honey," Momomi suggested.

"Okay, snookums," Kaname said. "In that case, we do nothing."

"Come again?" Shizuma asked. "How does that help Nagisa?"

"Nothing but strategic observation," Kaname said. "We study the situation and take the appropriate action based on our observations. It worked for Caesar."

"If I remember correctly," Shizuma frowned. "He was betrayed by the Roman senate and was stabbed over fifty times."

"Exactly my point," Kaname replied. "That wouldn't have happened if he would have taken just a little more time for strategic observation. He got really sloppy nearing the end of his life."

"I don't know," Shizuma shook her head. "I thought I... I mean, subterfuge? I should trust in our love."

"Oh, please," Kaname snorted. "Trusting in love? That never helped anyone. Romeo and Juliet trusted in their love. And where are they now? I'll tell you. They're dead, that's where they are. The Mayans trusted in love too. And guess what, they disappeared without a trace!"

"You wouldn't have come to us in the first place if you believed that, Shizuma-sama," Momomi added.

"Sure, sure, you keep trusting in love, Shizuma-sama," Kaname nodded. "I'm sure you'll enjoy kicking yourself when you see that boy taking _your _Nagisa down the aisle."

"Why do I have the feeling I'm going to regret this?" Shizuma sighed.

"Don't worry," Momomi said. "You'll have Nagisa back in your arms before you can say 'yuri'."

Shizuma sighed. "I don't even know what restaurant they'll be going to. Nagisa never told me."

"We have our network for that," Kaname smirked. "Momomi's got a hacker on that. Nice boy, no life, very nerdy. A few kind words and a wink from Momomi and he'll jump through a hoop for us. He's got programs that can check out the reservation systems for every restaurant in the city. This shouldn't take long."

Momomi was already on the phone trying to track down the restaurant in question, while Shizuma wondered just what the hell she'd gotten herself involved in.

* * *

Now that the dynamic duo has arrived, I'm quite sure that there's little more room for humor next to the angst. More on that next chapter!


	4. Chapter 3 : Grand Theft Nagisa

**

* * *

****Chapter 3 : Grand Theft Nagisa**

Nagisa sighed heavily as she piddled with her food. It smelled good, that was for sure, but she simply didn't have the appetite. The restaurant was nice too, plenty of booths and cozy spots for romantic dates. A violinist was moving from table to table where the many couples where enjoying there time together. The violin music, the candles on the tables. It would have been the perfect spot for a romantic date.

_'On another day, I would have loved to have come here with Shizuma,'_ Nagisa thought sadly. The boy sitting opposite to her was about her age and certainly not unattractive. No doubt he could make a girl very happy... _'Just not this girl,'_ Nagisa added mentally.

Nagisa had spent most of the day either walking through town or on the phone with Tamao-chan. Tamao-chan had been a more than willing ear, and was genuinely concerned for her friend's happiness. Though Tamao-chan's offered solution to her problem, which basically consisted of telling both her parents to 'get stuffed' as it were, was easier said than done. As promised to her father, she had reported to the hotel to be fitted with an expensive dress for the occasion. Afterwards, she had a brief and very awkward meet and greet with Hikaru. Then, her father had driven them both to the restaurant as they sat next to each other in silence.

The first thing that bothered her is that neither of her parents had seen just how sad and unhappy she was about this whole thing. But what was even worse was that this whole thing felt like such a betrayal to Shizuma. It actually made her scared to face the person she loved the most in the entire wold, she person that loved

Shizuma... How much she wanted to be have her by her side right now. When she began seeing Shizuma in earnest, almost two years ago, she'd seen such a magnificent transformation within her. When Shizuma was truly happy, she had become much more playful and even whimsical at times. Nagisa loved the kind person with the quirky sense of humor that was Shizuma. But these thoughts only served to made Nagisa sick to her stomach that was going through which this while she had a girl who loved her more than anybody in the world sitting at home: All alone and sad. What would Shizuma think of her if she knew what was going on?

But the very worst? Her father had made her take off her wedding ring. She insisted she'd keep it on her person, and her father had agreed as long as she would keep it out of sight.

And she just let everything happen. Nagisa felt miserable with self-loathing.

Nagisa just wanted to get this date over with, make it abundantly clear that she and Hikaru were not to be and just go home to be with her Shizuma. Oh, no doubt her parents would seek other candidates, but at least the two lovers would have some reprieve.

For what it was worth, the boy Hikaru seemed to be just as sad and miserable as she was. Ever since this 'date' had started, all that had been exchanged between them was a weak greeting, a few mandatory words and a lot of awkward silence.

"A-aren't you hungry?" Hikaru asked, spitting out the words as if deciding if he should say something about it or keep quiet.

"Y-yes," Nagisa said, avoiding his eyes. "I, uh, I mean, no, not really," she added while continuing to poke her food with her chopsticks.

More awkward silence.

"So, uh..." Hikaru said. "You go to college?"

"Just started," Nagisa said softly.

Yet more awkward silence.

"What are you studying?"

"Haven't decided on a major yet. You?"

"I, uh, I don't know want to do with my life yet."

Another awkward silence followed. In the back of her head, Nagisa saw flashes of what could be her future life. Nagisa and Hikaru sitting next to each other on the couch while the mandatory average 2.4 children and 3.2 housepets were running around her as she counted the years left to her in this loveless passionless and useless life her parents would press her in.

* * *

A few tables away sat three conspicuously dressed girls doing their best to seem inconspicuous. Unfortunately, they were noticed by just about everybody in the restaurant, because three girls sitting in a restaurant wearing trench coats, fake wigs, sunglasses and holding up newspapers tended to draw a lot of unwanted attention. Luckily, though, Nagisa and Hikaru were too distracted to notice them at all.

"What sitcom did you get this idea from?" Shizuma sighed. "And why do I have to wear this ridiculous purple wig?!"

"Seinfeld. Costanza-sensei is the best," Kaname said. "And you have to wear that wig because that luscious silver mane of yours attracts pretty girls from miles away. Best to keep it hidden to avoid the attention."

"_This_ is what you call avoiding attention?!" Shizuma said.

"Are you kidding?" Momomi said. "Without those sunglasses and wig, you'd be a Nagisa magnet. And have a little faith, Shizuma-sama. We found out where they'd be dining, after all."

Shizuma looked through the holes in her newspaper. "So far so good," Shizuma said. "Nagisa looks completely miserable." She instantly felt a pang of guilt for actually being elated that Nagisa was unhappy. She promised herself to make Nagisa feel so much better when this horror would be over.

"What did you expect?" Kaname smirked. "You can take the girl out of the lesbian, but never the lesbian out of the girl."

Shizuma blinked. "That sounded horribly ecchi."

"Ahum," sounded from one of the waiters... one desperately trying not to laugh. "Are you three international spies ready to order?"

* * *

Finally, Nagisa had had enough. She dropped her chopsticks on the table and prepared to dash out of the restaurant.

"I... I..." Nagisa stammered as she gathered up her courage to leave. "I'm sorry, I just... really don't wanna be here."

Hikaru actually showed a hint of a smile. "Ditto," he replied.

Nagisa frowned and sat back down, her curiosity piqued by the sudden change of Hikaru's mood. "Y-you don't wanna be here either?"

Hikaru seemed to relax a little more. "Do I look like I wanna be here?"

"I guess not," Nagisa replied. "Did your parents make you come here too, Hikaru-san?"

Hikaru matched Nagisa's frown. "Yeah. No kidding. A whole speech about family honor and responsibility, I was there when our parents first met and were... negotiating. God, I felt like a cow at a life-stock auction. I've been dreading this moment for months. What did they tell you, Nagisa-san? Just curious."

"They, um, told me that there was this young eligable catholic boy who hasn't found love yet, but is eager to marry and, uh... What?" Nagisa was shocked when Hikaru started to chuckle softly.

"I should have known," Hikaru shook his head. "My parents told me you are a very lovely and devoted catholic girl who is eager to marry and start a family, but had trouble finding the right person to settle down with."

Nagisa blinked. "But... why would our parents lie to us like this?"

Hikaru smiled. "I should have known you were a kindred spirit as soon as I met you. Our parents must really think we're stupid not to figure it out eventually."

Nagisa gasped, but then nodded in understanding. "You're gay..." she whispered.

"And I'm guessing so are you," Hikaru laughed. "You know, I just bet my parents never told yours that I am gay... and vice versa. People in denial, huh? Loveless people who wouldn't understand people's feelings if it came up to them and bit them in the ass. And I just wish it would."

Nagisa giggled.

* * *

"Uh-oh, this doesn't look good," Kaname frowned.

"That's an understatement," Shizuma's expression darkened considerably as she watched Nagisa and the stranger, this _usurper_... this _intruder_... laughing together. For a moment, she felt pure concentrated hate soaring through her very being, followed by a feeling of dread and hopelessness. She took a few deep breaths to center herself. _'Trust Nagisa,' _Shizuma thought. _'I trust Nagisa'._

Momoni peered over her newspaper. "Hm, an odd sudden change in mood. I wonder what happened."

"If only we could hear what they were saying," Shizuma sighed.

Kaname offered Shizuma a sly wink before producing a small device from her inside pocket. "We can. I took the liberty of bugging their table before they got in. Let's listen in for a bit."

_**"Oh, now you're just talking crap. General Grievous could totally kick Sailor Moon's ass!"**_

_**"But she's got special moon powers."**_

_**"So what? General Grievous is an evil android with four arms and four lightsabers. He could totally cut her up!"**_

_**"Okay, okay, we'll call it a draw. How about this one. In a no-hold back battle to the death, who would win? Anakin Skywalker or Fukuzawa Yumi?"**_

_**"Tough one, but I have to say Yumi-chan."**_

_**"Yeah. No contest. Totally Yumi-chan. She's got the power of the Cute."**_

Kaname growled. "Dammit," she glared daggers at the two Otaku sitting at the table nearest to Nagisa and the stranger. "I must have bugged the wrong table. And who the bloody hell is General Grievous?"

"Our plotting skills have diminished somewhat ever since we left the Strawberry Dorms," Momomi sighed.

"It's okay," Shizuma told herself. "I trust Nagisa. I trust my love."

"I love Maria-sama Ga Miteru," Momomi smiled. "It's so realistic. Bit depressing, though."

"Yeah, I just wish Sachiko would get over herself already, drag Yumi to a room and make passionate love to her," Kaname said.

Momomi closed her eyes and swooned. "God, you're so sexy, Kaname."

Shizuma rolled her eyes as her two tablemates ended up lip-locked in a passionate kiss, drawing even more attention to themselves. "It's so nice of you two to start making out in front of someone whose lovelife is in serious peril. That's so encouraging," Shizuma hissed coldly.

"Hey, girls," the snickering waiter returned. "Can I see your James Bond gadgets? Do you have an exploding watch or a laser-pen?"

"Bugger off," Shizuma hissed, while the other two kept kissing each other without a care in the world.

* * *

"... And so Toshio and I ran all the way back to the dorm with three angry policemen in tow. We gave em the shake, though, and hid in the stables. We spent the rest of the night holding on to each other in the moonlight. It was just perfect."

Nagisa laughed gently after popping some food into her mouth. The two were finally enjoying their dinner while they were conversing. "Did they ever find out?"

"Oh, no," Hikaru chuckled. "Oh, they questioned everybody, but we got our stories straight. Those were good times. I... I haven't seen Toshio for over a year now."

"I'm sorry," Nagisa said. The 'date', as it were, had changed direction. It went from two akward people who didn't want to be here, to two kindred spirits who were basically in the same boat. Hikaru and Nagisa were actually starting to bond over their shared predicament somewhat and took turns swapping some stories about their lives and perspective lovers.

"So, now it's your turn again. Another story about that lovely Shizuma of yours."

Nagisa thought for a moment. "Which one to tell, there's so many. Uhm, how about the time we first danced? Oh, no, wait. I'll tell you the story when she first told me that she loved me. I told you about the Etoile election, right? So here she just barges into the cathedral and walks up the aisle. And then she said it... shouted it, more like. 'I love you'," Nagisa said while closing her eyes and dreaming away. "I was torn for a moment, but when Tamao-chan let me go and I flew into Shizuma's arms... everything felt so right. Everything felt as if it belonged. H-how could anyone think it's wrong? I just don't understand." Nagisa whispered. "Why can't they just let us be together?"

Nagisa started when Hikaru gently took her hand and squeezed it slightly. "It sounds like you love her very much, Nagisa-san."

"I-I do," Nagisa felt a tear running down her cheek. "I..."

"Let me tell you something, Nagisa-san," Hikaru said. "Don't let them split you up. Don't let them win. I was weak. I lost Toshio and I just stood by and let it happen. Hold on to your love, Nagisa-san. Because if you don't, I swear to you that you're going to regret it for the rest of your life."

Nagisa smiled as she looked into Hikaru's eyes, a profound understanding forming between them. And both were oblivious to the heart that was shattering three tables away from them.

Kaname and Momomi exchanged worried glances for a moment. Shizuma gritted her teeth, her balled fists tearing the newspaper she was still holding.

"He's holding her hand," Shizuma glowered at him. "He's holding her HAND!"

"Whoa, whoa," Kaname spoke up. "Calm down, Shizuma-sama. We need to be crafty here, not violent."

Shizuma slammed her fist on the table. "I am NOT violent!"

"Uh, no offense, Shizuma-sama," Momomi said. "But I swear I can read the word 'Redrum' in your eyes."

_'Alright, calm down, calm down',_ Shizuma closed her eyes. _'Trust Nagisa. Trust Nagisa.' _Happy memories came flowing back. Aside from her wedding and honeymoon, the memories focused on their apartment. When she and Nagisa had moved in, the apartment was barely finished. They'd spent the better part of a month fixing it up. In a particularly playful mood, Shizuma had chased a giggling Nagisa with a paintbrush dripping with white wallpaint: she looked so cute with her nose covered in paint. Then there was the time when they had been snuggled up before the fireplace eating insta-noodles because their kitchen hadn't been hooked up yet. Making love in an old sleeping bag on the floor because the queen-sized bed they'd purchased from Ikea hadn't come with enough screws to hold it together.

"No, this isn't helping, I only want to kill him even more," Shizuma growled. "I trust Nagisa, but not that evil bastard! And... Oh... Oh my god," Shizuma gasped. As Nagisa laid her hand on his, she noticed one very specific detail. The reality of it all was like a sledgehammer to the head. "Nagisa... She's not wearing her wedding ring..."

It was then that the stately beauty lost control for just a moment. She grabbed the sides of the table and squeezed, started to sob softly and fought to keep her tears from spilling. It took her a few moments to regain control of herself.

"It's all falling apart," Shizuma whispered. "I'm going to lose her."

Kaname and Momomi exchanged glances for a moment. "Alright!" it was Kaname who spoke up first. "I have a cunning plan, which cannot fail!"

"You planning to molest him too?" Shizuma asked coldly.

"Don't be so foul!" Kaname protested. "I was thinking more along the lines of hitting him over the head with a tennis racket, putting postage on his ass and mailing him to Antartica."

"I dunno, that sounds expensive, honey," said Momomi.

"I like that plan," Shizuma added. "I like it a lot."

The waiter returned with their orders, and again fought against his own laughter. "Well, uh, just don't use your cyanide pills in here, because that would cause such a mess."

"Oh, that's it," Momomi growled when the waiter left again. "That guy can forget about getting a tip."

* * *

"I am so not attracted to you," Hikaru smirked at Nagisa he left money for the meal and some for the tip.

"Me neither!" Nagisa giggled. "Uh, to you, I mean."

"Peas in a pod, then," Hikaru said.

"Thanks," Nagisa said as she and Hikaru shared a brief hug.

"Remember what I said, Nagisa-san," Hikaru said as she released him. He followed her to the foyer and helped her with her coat.

"I will," Nagisa replied.

"It's a bit late. Do you want me to walk you home?" Hikaru offered as the two stepped outside. It was a calm yet balmy evening. The street lights illuminated the mostly empty pavements.

Nagisa shook her head. "No, thank you. I'll walk home on my own. I have some thinking to do anyway."

"Sure?"

"Yeah. What'll we tell our parents? Mine were kinda hoping we'd hit it off."

"Mine too... but I think it's best to just cite irreconsilable differences. Which is bound to happen when the guy and the girl going on the date are both gay."

Nagisa smiled and bowed slightly. "I hope you'll find happiness again, Hikaru-san."

"I just hope you won't lose it, Nagisa-san," Hikaru bowed back. Nagisa waved one more time and then started to walk off into the streets. Hikaru watched her for a while before heading to the parking lot. All things considered, he thought Nagisa was a really nice girl who deserved a lot better than being thrown on the wedding market by her parents.

Hikaru sighed and fished a cigarette from his pocket. He searched around for his lighter for a moment and leant against the wall.

Hikaru shook his head. His father had already practically arranged his marriage to Nagisa. He'd have to face his parents tomorrow, with some sort of explanation as to why he wouldn't be getting engaged with Nagisa. _'Well gee dad, I'm sorta, you know, GAY!' _wouldn't fly anymore. He sighed heavily... this circus would continue and continue. His father'd give him the speech about family honor and duty, and there'd be more girls to meet.

He thought of Toshio for a while, and how much he missed him. Self-loathing grabbed hold of him for a brief moment. If only he'd have fought harder, they'd still be together. Nagisa still had a chance, but he had lost Toshio forever... his parents made sure of that.

"YOU!" he heard an angry female voice sounding next to him.

He was startled for a moment to see a stately silver-maned beauty standing a few meters away from him, glaring daggers at him.

"Miss?" he asked this woman, whose black raincoat made her look as if she had just swallowed a red pill and stepped out of the Matrix.

"Perhaps you should look for another girl," she said coldly. "A girl who isn't already involved with someone else. A girl who isn't already loved dearly by someone else. She is NOT yours."

Hikaru realized there was an unspoken but very apparent 'or else' hidden underneath the words said by the woman in front of him. "Ah," he smiled. "You must be Shizuma-san."

The woman, Shizuma, seemed surprised for a moment, but then regained her hardened composure.

"Look," Hikaru smiled and puffed on his cigarette. "You have nothing to fear from me. You just missed Nagisa-san. She's already gone home. Go there. Talk to her. You'll see there's nothing to worry."

Shizuma narrowed her eyes and looked as if she was about to say something, when another girl emerged from the restaurant. The other girl was wearing a long trench-coat as well and had neatly trimmed jet-black hair.

"Shizuma-sama," she said as she placed a hand on Shizuma's shoulder. "Crafty, remember, crafty. Don't worry, we still have the plan and I have a Big Gun up my sleeve. Calm down."

Hikaru frowned for a moment, but quickly lit the cigarette he was holding. "Alright," he shrugged and bowed slightly. "No reason for me to say here any longer. Have a good evening, both of you. Give my regards to Nagisa-san."

"I'm not finished with..." Shizuma started to say, until the black-haired girl held her back.

"Yes, you ARE Shizuma-sama!" she pressed. "Let us handle this from here. Go home."

"What?! How da..."

"GO HOME!"

* * *

Hikaru has long since walked away into the night without looking back to catch this part of their conversation and made his way along the empty streets of the city. He puffed on his cigarette, thinking of what he should say tomorrow. _'Well, dad, we didn't really connect and all'. 'Well, dad, I really wanted to marry her, but she turned out to be an international jewel-thief'. 'Well, dad, I really wanted to marry her, but she turned out to be a green space alien and wasn't even a catholic. I mean, what religion would our children follow?'. 'Well, dad, we really wanted to marry, but Nagisa-san turned out to be on a quest to destroy the One Ring, and I really didn't have the time or inclination to follow her through the land of Mordor into the fires of Mount Doom'. 'Well, dad, I really liked her, but I'm just not into girls who have breasts'._

"I'm gonna get yelled at," Hikaru sighed heavily.

Deeply in thought, Hikaru continued his trek, not going anywhere in particular. Until he came upon a pretty brown-haired girl in a trench-coat who was leaning sexily against a lamppost.

"Hey sailor," the girl winked. "Got a light?" the pretty girl held out her cigarette.

Hikaru shrugged and took out his lighter. "Sure. Here you go, miss..."

It was then when he noticed another girl stepped out of the nearby allyway while whistling a suspiciously innocent tune.

"Okay, what's going on here?" Hikaru asked. "Hey, wait a minute, aren't you the girl who I saw with Nagisa-san's girlfriend?"

The creepy short-haired girl nodded briefly. "Good eye. Let me tell you something, my friend. Let me tell you something about fairy tales. Most people see fairy tales as harmless children's stories. And, nowadays, they are, but that is only because Disney declawed them. Take the Little Mermaid, for example. In most modern day adaptations, which parents read to their children, the Little Mermaid falls in love, finds her man and eventually marries him. But the original tale is quite different. That is a tale of unrequited love and murder, and in the end, my friend, the Little Mermaid hurls herself into the ocean which has now become her enemy. She dies and is trapped forever in the form of the foam on top of the waves landing on the beach, her soul forever trapped between land and sea. My point being, that fairy tales and reality are miles apart."

"We need to talk," smirked the pretty girl as she tossed the cigarette.

Hikaru gulped as the two girls glared at him. For some reason, he felt that he was in serious danger.

* * *

Next time, it'll be Nagisa's turn to decide to take a stand.


	5. Chapter 4 : Sake Frenzy

Well, here we go. A new part is ready to be released to the public. I hope you'll like it.

* * *

**Chapter 4 : Sake Frenzy**

As soon as the 'date' had ended, Shizuma had hurried home to await Nagisa's arrival. And then started the waiting game... She turned on some lights and waited. And waited. And waited. But Nagisa had yet to arrive. Time almost crawled to a halt as she agonizingly kept waiting for her beloved to come home. She started pacing. Sat down again. Paced again. Sat down again, and paced some more. When Shizuma sank back in her chair some time later, her doorbell rang. Her heart skipped a beat as she belted for the door.

But it wasn't Nagisa. It couldn't be Nagisa, she realized... because Nagisa had a key and wouldn't need to ring the doorbell. She looked through the peephole, and saw her friend Takashi standing behind the door.

"Hello, hello, hello," Takashi said as he entered the apartment, kicked off his shoes and slipped into the guest-slippers. "I was passing by and I saw your lights were on and I thought to myself 'Self, my ole pal Shizzy probably has some bottles of sake she needs to have taken care of'. And thus I ended up here."

Part of her wanted to tell Takashi this wasn't really the best time, but another part of her was grateful for some company so the agonizing wait wouldn't be so painful to her. The last part won out and Shizuma motioned Takashi to step further.

"No Nagisa?" Takashi asked.

"No, she... she's out," Shizuma lied.

Takashi sat down on the couch and took a bottle of sake from her 'Takashi-stash'. The Takashi-stash was a series of bottles she had placed in view just in case of Takashi dropping by. The more expensive wines and a bottle of two of sake were hidden somewhere else where (she hoped) the alcohol vampire that was Takashi would never find.

Takashi sipped his first cup of sake and produced a plastic bag.

"What's that, Takashi-kun?" Shizuma asked.

"Study material," he grinned. "Take a look."

Curious, she picked up the bag and found a stack of mangas inside. Her eyes grew wide when she skimmed the titles and saw the drawings on the cover. "Uh, this is study material? Dare I ask what are you working on?"

The young anthropology student chuckled slightly. "Remember that lecture we had on Foucault and his philosophy about the role of sexuality in society? Well, there's no country in the world where the Id and the SuperEgo are so diametrically opposed and yet so closely connected as they are here in our lovely Japan. Check out those manga's. You can't get the really good stuff until these shops open late at night. It's perfect for my paper."

Shizuma took one of the mangas and read the title. _'An Elder Sister's Lewd Cavity?'_

"Yes," Takashi bit his lip. "Apparently, there's a market for it. Which means there's a lot of young boys out there... and girls, I might add... who secretly want to sleep with their own big sisters."

"Hm," Shizuma frowned. "Makes me glad I'm an only child."

"Me too," Takashi smiled. "Oh, hey, you like that Harry Potter crap. Take a look at this one."

Shizuma took the Doujinji and skimmed the title. _'Harry Potter and the Golden Showers?', _she read and flipped through the manga, only to close it again immediately. "Oh, dear god," she blushed slightly.

"Terrible, huh?"

"Study material, or just an excuse to expand your collection of all things foul and depraved."

"Maybe a little bit of both, hm?"

Shizuma quickly shoved the mangas back into the bag and chatted a bit with Takashi while he drank more sake. As Takashi became tipsy, he waxed philosophically which made for an interesting distraction from Shizuma's plight. Part of her wanted to join him in his sake frenzy and drink herself totally stupid... but that wasn't a good idea if she wanted to be coherent when Nagisa'd return home. Sometime later, she checked the clock and it was almost midnight.

"Uh... you gonna get that?" Takashi slurred slightly, bringing Shizuma back to reality. The phone rang.

As soon as that fact registered, she belted for the phone and picked it up, almost tripping over a rug in the process.

"Hello?" said Shizuma as she picked up the phone and rubbed the knee she had banged against a chair. "Is that you, Nagi..."

_"Nope,"_ Kaname said.

"Oh..." Shizuma sighed.

_"Don't sound too disappointed,"_ Kaname replied.

"I'm sorry," Shizuma replied. "It's just that... Nagisa hasn't come home yet."

_"Can't help you with that, Shizuma-sama, but I have something interesting to tell you about our little would-be Nagisa-thief,"_ said Kaname.

"Do tell."

_"He's gay."_

"Nani?!"

_"Long story short. We had him right were we wanted him, but there were, um, complications. In any case, we had a bit of a chat, and it turned out he was gay and his parents wanted him to meet this cute red-headed catholic girl. Guess who that turned out to be, eh? Anyway, we got him to tell us his story... after some poking and prodding. It seems he lost his love Toshio. So after Momomi drilled him for info, she put her network on the case and found this Toshio pretty quickly. Hikaru-san called his parents, told them to get stuffed and hit the first bus to Niigata to look for this Toshio."_

"That's quite a story."

_"Yep,"_ Kaname said. _"He's out of our hair. Pity, though. I didn't even get to use the thumbscrews. You should hear me when I'm threatening someone, Shizuma-sama. Momomi says it's very impressive."_

"He's gay," Shizuma chuckled for a moment. "God, what a fool I've been."

_"Yes."_

"Thank you for the sympathy," Shizuma replied with a sigh.

_"Yes."_

"Darth Kaname strikes again," Shizuma smiled. "I owe you a favor."

_"You sure do,"_ Kaname chuckled. _"We'll be in touch as soon as we know more. I think we'd better bring in our Big Gun just to be on the safe side. I know how catholic parents think. We've won the battle, but not the war."_

"Thank you, Kaname-san. Thank Momomi-san for me as well."

_"Hai. Oh, gotta run. Momomi says the bath is ready,"_ Shizuma heard Momomi say something about playing the 'Bee and the Stinger' in the background. _'Yikes'_, Shizuma thought. _'Too much information...'_

Shizuma tossed her phone on the table and couldn't help but laugh at herself. So that was what the boy meant when he said she had nothing to worry about. But still, it made her think. About her own actions and her own behaviour the past couple of hours. And she concluded she'd seen a side of herself she really didn't like. Jealously was not becoming of her.

Kaname'd been right, though. This wouldn't end. Nagisa's parents would press on until one boy would take a shine to her and would want to marry her... and she couldn't blame them. There was a lot to like about Nagisa, after all. But what would happen then? Would Shizuma be allowed to become Nagisa's mistress? Would she be happy in this role? Would Nagisa be? And how would they cope with the strain on their relationship which the 'Aoi dating service' was sure to put on their relationship?

To her everlasting shame, Shizuma had never talked to Nagisa about her feelings about this. She'd only be thinking of her own happiness, rather than Nagisa's. She promised herself that, as soon as Nagisa would come home, they'd finally have a talk they should have had days ago.

Her friend was in need of her attention, however. Seeing Takashi was passed out on the couch due to his massive sake-consumption, she got to the task of dragging him into the guest-room by his legs.

* * *

Nagisa had taken a seat in the pew nearest to the altar. When she passed her church on the way home, she felt the sudden need to go inside. Her hands folded together in reverent prayer, she focused on the small candle she had lit earlier. The church wasn't a large one, as the number of catholics in her new hometown was rather small and consisted of maybe ten or twelve families and a handful of individuals. But it was cozy and familiar. Right now, she was the only worshipper here.

"Nagisa-chan?" she heard beside her. She looked up to see the kindly face of Father Yoshimo. He was young man, barely older than Shizuma, in fact, but he had the responsibility of taking care of the admittedly small number of Catholics in this city. In Japan, where Shinto was the dominant religion, it meant he had a tiny flock. But she supposed it fitted. A tiny church for a tiny flock. But still, Father Yoshimo was a kind and caring man. "A little late, isn't it? Shouldn't you be home?"

"Oh, hello Father Yoshimo," Nagisa smiled. "Actually, I'm early. It's sunday already."

"Is it?" Father Yoshimo checked his watch. "Oh, I see."

"I, uh, I was just... Father? Could I ask you a question? It's about... something serious."

"Would you like me to take your confession?" Father Yoshimo asked.

"No, no," Nagisa said quickly. "I'd rather... look someone in the eyes."

Father Yoshimo sat down next to Nagisa. "Is everything okay? Is this about that Beavis & Butt-Head story again?"

"Father," Nagisa said. "I'm deeply in love with another woman. And she loves me."

Father Yoshimo put a hand on Nagisa's shoulder and offered a kind smile. "I know."

"Y-you do?!" Nagisa blinked. "But..."

"This city isn't so big," Father Yoshimo said. "I'm not blind, Nagisa-chan. I've seen you plenty of times at the carnival with a stately young silver-haired woman. You two certainly didn't make a secret of it that you are lovers. You are really happy together, aren't you? You were both so radiant when I saw you last week."

"Shizuma," Nagisa whispered, and told Father Yoshimo what had happened to her the past couple of days. "I feel horrible about this. What must she think of me?"

"That's for her to answer," Father Yoshimo said. "But if she truly loves you, I think she will understand."

"Is it wrong to love another woman? It does feel wrong at all."

"Look, Nagisa, I could feed you the common church policy platitudes here, but I'm not going to. I'll tell you what I think, though. I think that love in all its forms is a gift from God, Nagisa. I feel it's not my place to make judgments about that. You have to look into your own heart and soul for answers. And I think you already know."

"What do you mean, Father?"

"Nagisa-chan, I've been hearing your confessions every week," Father Yoshimo chuckled. "You've confessed everything that's even remotely related to a sin you've ever committed in your entire life, and that includes taking two pieces of chocolate cake during your fourth birthday party. And yet you've never even once mentioned your love for your Shizuma as a sin. Draw your own conclusions from that."

"Thank you, Father," Nagisa smiled.

"And ask yourself this," Father Yoshimo told her. "If I told you that loving Shizuma was wrong, would you believe me? Be fair."

"No," Nagisa giggled. "You're right. Thank you."

"It's alright," Father Yoshimo smiled back. "Nagisa-chan, why don't you go home? Get some sleep. Tell your Shizuma that you love her."

"Hai," Nagisa smiled.

"Now get outta here," Father Yoshimo winked. "I'm tired. I wanna go to bed!"

* * *

"Shizuma?" Shizuma heard her beloved's voice, almost a whisper in her groggy mind after the door opened and closed. When she opened her eyes, she saw her beloved Nagisa standing in front of her, cute as always in her denim jacket over her red evening gown.

"Shizuma, have you been drinking?" she asked softly, terrible guilt apparent in her voice.

Shizuma frowned and wondered where she'd gotten that idea from, since she hadn't touched a drop all day. Then she realized she must had fallen asleep on the couch. Her hair was disheveled, her clothes were a mess, she squinted from the lights that had just turned on. And there were four bottles of sake on the ground next to the couch. All empty.

'Great,' Shizuma could kick herself. 'Nagisa comes home after a difficult evening and she finds her wife looking as if she'd been drinking herself stupid. Nice going, Shizuma...'

"Uh, no, no," Shizuma said quickly and sat up, trying to look as sober as she possibly could. "I was just, uh, resting. Takashi-kun stopped by, he drank everything here. He's sleeping it off in the guestroom, Nagisa."

"Oh," Nagisa seemed relieved. "That's good. I wouldn't have wanted you to..."

"But Nagisa," Shizuma whispered softly from the couch. "You came back."

"Of course I did!" Nagisa sobbed, rushed up to Shizuma and flew into her arms. The next hour, she lay on her couch with her head on Shizuma's lap. While Shizuma gently ran a hand through Nagisa's hair, the teary-eyed girl told her her story. About her parents harshness, the ill-fated date and her shame for hiding things from her beloved.

"I already know," Shizuma whispered softly. Nagisa sat up to stare into Shizuma's eyes after drying her tears. "In fact, I'm the one that should be ashamed, not you."

"But. But why?"

"Because I've been so selfish," Shizuma squeezed her eyes shut. "I never talked to you, I just... lowered myself to a level I've never wanted to stoop to. I was there in the restaurant. I saw everything. I even asked those two idiots Kaname and Momomi to help me out. It was all I could do not to run over to your table, snatch you away into the night and to just keep running and running and running until nobody would ever be able to find us ever again."

Shizuma sighed heavily. How to make her understand?

She remember the time right after Kaori's death, when she had stayed with her father. There was just too much grief for her back at Miator at the time, and she'd been given special dispensation to be absent from school. Her father was a kind man, who set all his business obligations aside tried to do whatever he could to heal his daughter's heart.

He took her to see the best doctors and psychiatrists in the world. He tried taking her to trips abroad to help cheer her up. He had sat with her for hours on end while she merely stared out the window in silence and tears. But nothing, absolutely nothing helped. Her father had told her that it seemed as if her very soul had been ripped from her body.

Eventually, she had to return to Miator, but all that was left of Shizuma was a mere shadow of the person she had once been. She survived, but she did not live. Only taking care of her flowers gave her a small measure of joy, and she had many paramours after that: Futile attempts to fill the emptiness inside. She'd moved from girl to girl and she again felt deep shame when the memories flashed by: How many hearts had she broken mercilessly when she found that those girls could do nothing to fill the void within her heart? How many girls had she used and then just as quickly tossed them away without so much as a shred of regard for their feelings?

Shizuma had lived as a cold, empty shell until... until she'd met Nagisa, and found her true self again.

"Nagisa," Shizuma whispered. "Few people know the joy of finding True Love during their lifetimes. Fewer people still find it twice. I am one of those lucky few. I love you. I truly love you. You gave me back my life, Nagisa."

Nagisa froze slightly. "S-shizuma?"

"I found True Love twice. And I didn't want to lose it for a second time," Shizuma began, knowing there was no way back now. "I see now that... I love you so much that I want you to be happy. Alive and happy. And, if that can't be with me, then... I'll have to let you go. Oh, don't get me wrong, I'll fight for you until the bitter end, but if you... would want me to leave, then I..."

Shizuma looked away as tears started to form in her eyes.

"Shizuma!" Nagisa cried. Shizuma felt her lover grabbing her by the shoulders. "What are you saying?!"

This hurt. This hurt Shizuma so much. Was this some sort of Cosmic Karma to rightfully punish her for everything she had put others through in the past? Was this what Tamao-chan had felt the moment she realized she had to let her beloved Nagisa go? Her respect for Tamao-chan was easily doubled.

"How can you find happiness when your parents are constantly trying to break us up? And your mother was right about one thing, this isn't she sheltered life at Miator," Shizuma felt real pain as there was a good chance that her relationship with her True Love could end this very moment. "If I can't give you the happiness you deserve then, then..."

"You're the **only one** who can give me happiness!" Nagisa shouted. Shizuma was surprised when Nagisa clutched against her chest and felt Nagisa's wet tears on her skin. "Don't you get it, Shizuma? How could you ever think I could be happy with someone else? When I was with my parents, when I was on that stupid date, all I could think of was you."

"N-nagisa," Shizuma gasped.

"You're the only one who can make me happy," Nagisa sniffed. "I ache for you when you're not around. You make me smile by just being near me. I don't know what I'd do if you are not in my life, Shizuma. I love you so much! I never want you to go. Don't just think about our problems, think about all the happy times we've had too. Our first kiss, our wedding, finding this apartment and fixing it up... Remember my first day at college? I was excited, but scared too, and you were there to show me everything and help me. And then you introduced me to your classmates. You proudly told everybody that I was your Nagisa, the love the of life. Remember last christmas?"

Shizuma smiled to herself. Yes, she did remember last christmas, an ill-fated romantic skiing holiday that was a case-study for Murphy's Law. Due to an airline mix-up their luggage had ended up in Trinidad, the chalet they booked was old and cold and had a leaky roof, the weather was bad, most shops were closed so they barely had any food and on the first day of skiing Shizuma had ended up rather badly spraining her ankle.

But they made the best of it. Because despite all the setbacks, they had each other. There were few sights in the world that were more impressive than Nagisa lying naked an a bear-rug in front of the fireplace, expecting a sexy back rub... right before they had find out the hard way that the chimney was blocked.

Shizuma giggled to herself. Sure, the holiday was a disaster. But they still had a hell of a lot of fun.

"If you want me in your life, Nagisa," Shizuma smiled radiantly. "Then I'm not going anywhere."

Nagisa looked directly into Shizuma's eyes. "I want us to stay together forever, Shizuma. I'm never going to let you go. Look at those pictures, Shizuma," she said, pointing to the wall filled with pictures from their two years together. "I want us to have so much more happy memories. So many that we need the whole apartment to display them all."

Shizuma closed her eyes for a moment and let the happiness wash over her for a moment. When she opened her eyes, she gently lifted Nagisa's chin and gently pressed pressed her lips on her love's for a kiss she had been waiting for all day. The pure, simple bliss of Nagisa's soft lips.

"Don't even think about leaving," Nagisa said while trailing a series of butterfly kisses along her lover's neck and cheek. "Or... Or... I'll buy shackles and I'll tie you to the couch..."

Shizuma couldn't help but giggle slightly. "My," her slyness returned ever so slightly. "Is that a promise, mistress Nagisa?"

"Oh, you," Nagisa laughed in spite of herself. "Seriously, Shizuma, I never want to you leave. I told you I wanted to build a life with you and that has never changed."

Nagisa broke the embrace and stood in front of Shizuma, grim determination etched on her gentle face. "I've been doing some thinking tonight, and I've come to a decision. Let's end this once and for all," she spoke with grim determination on her cute face. "I'm going to do what I should have done in the first place. Come on, Shizuma. I'm going to introduce you to your parents."

"Now?" Shizuma checked the clock.

"Especially now," Nagisa smiled. "I won't wait any longer."

Shizuma was only happy to follow. The fact that Nagisa was going to do anything to stay with her meant she was walking on sunshine either way.

Just as Nagisa was about to belt out of the door with Shizuma in tow, she noticed a manga lying on the floor, just sticking out from underneath the coffee-table. "What's this?" she asked and picked it up. "_'Sailor Moon : Usagi and Rei's Lewd Anal Interlude?' _I, uh, I never knew you were into this kinda stuff."

Shizuma gulped. _'Great. First all those bottles and now porn', _she thought. "It's Takashi-kun's," she said.

Nagisa raised an eyebrow.

"No, really," Shizuma said quickly. "It really is Takashi-kun's. It's source material for a paper he's working on."

Nagisa bit her lip. "Uh, well, okay, if you say so. But, uhm, if you're into this sorta thing, I just want you to know that... I'm not. Okay? Call me an old fashioned girl, if you want to, but..."

"Nagisa!" Shizuma gulped. "I'm really not into..." But she rolled her eyes when she saw a smile tug at the corners of Nagisa's mouth and she realized that she'd been had. It was one of those moments where Nagisa had the upper hand, and to Shizuma's delight this happened more and more as Nagisa grew older.

"I know," Nagisa smiled and took her wife's hand. "I want my parents to meet you."

* * *

A/N: Next chapter, the confrontation everybody's been waiting for. :)


	6. Chapter 5 : You do know, this means war!

At long last, here is the confrontation. I hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

Nagisa stood in front of the door to her parents' hotel room and merely stared at it.

"I'm scared," Nagisa whispered.

"I know," Shizuma replied softly.

"I'm really, really scared."

Shizuma kissed the top of her head. "I'll be right here with you, Nagisa."

Nagisa took a few deep breaths and steeled herself. Though it was mixed with strong fear, the times that Shizuma had seen Nagisa as focused and as determined as she was then, had been rare. But Shizuma had faith in her love. Nagisa finally managed to persuade her rebellious body to knock on the door.

As expected, Nagisa's parents had already gone to bed and it took a moment before the door was answered. The two girls found themselves in front of the familiar sight of Nagisa's mother Kaede a few moments later. The time being way past midnight, she was dressed in a nightshirt and suppressed a yawn before she noticed her visitor was Nagisa.

"Nagisa, honey, why are you still up?" Nagisa's mother started to say, but Nagisa brushed right past her. Shizuma offered her an apologetic smile, but followed in Nagisa's tracks. Still, she could feel the tension in the air. This was going to be difficult for Nagisa.

Orito yawned as he emerged from the bedroom, but his sleepiness faded as soon he saw Nagisa. Anger was apparent on his features. "Girl, what have you done?!" he spoke harshly. "I heard from Hikaru's parents and they were very upset. Hikaru has taken off to chase after some boy?! What did you do, Nagisa?! What did you say to him?!"

"Sir, I... I..." faced with her father's anger, Nagisa's resolve was already crumbling. But a simple glance at Shizuma beside her reminded Nagisa of what she had to lose.

"Father," Nagisa replied softly. "Hikaru's parents have tried to sell their gay son to you. Just as you've been trying to sell your gay daughter to them! There's a saying in English about that... Uh, Shizuma, what was that one again?"

"I believe you're thinking of: 'Hoist on your own petard'," Shizuma spoke in English with perfect pronunciation.

Orito nearly growled. "Nagisa, don't forget your place. We are your parents and you are our child."

"B-but, I..." Nagisa started to stammer.

"Silence!" Orito spoke. "Do you know how long it took us to convince the Kawatsuka's to let you meet their precious son? How many hours I had to spend on the golf course lobbying for you?! All so that you could get a good Catholic husband who can provide for you! And you somehow manage to ruin it for all of us! That's what I call ungrateful, Nagisa-chan! If you could just make an effort to be a better daughter to us..."

"Orito, that's uncalled for," Kaede spoke softly.

"B-but," Nagisa sniffed. "H-he... Sh-Shizuma..."

"BE QUIET!"

All eyes turned to Shizuma, who was angrily staring at Orito with balled fists. "For once in your life, just listen to what your daughter has to say to you."

Orito blinked. "How dare you speak to us th..."

"Nagisa has something to tell you, so I suggest you listen!" Shizuma replied, adapting all the authority in her stance she had had during her days as Etoile.

"I will not be told how..."

"You WILL listen!" Shizuma stressed, the intensity in her voice doing the job of silencing Orito momentarily. "Nagisa?" she asked softly. "Go ahead."

Shizuma could see the courage in Nagisa's eyes as her determination was renewed. Nagisa raised her voice. "Shizuma is right. For once in your life, both of you are going to listen to me for a change! I'm telling you now, there's not going to be any more arranged marriages. There's not going to be any more matchmaking. I came here to introduce you to the love of my life. This lovely woman here is Hanazono Shizuma, and we," she held up her hand which once again was adorned with her wedding ring, "are married. Maybe not by law, but we are married in our hearts. And that's what matters."

Nagisa closed her eyes for a moment. "Father, mother. Please stop trying to change me into something I'm not."

"Nagisa-chan," Kaede started. "Please calm down. We only want what's best for y..."

"How dare you?" Nagisa addressed both of them. "How dare you? I haven't seen you for three whole years and you suddenly come back and the first thing you do is to dictate how I'm supposed to live my life? Shizuma is the best thing that ever happened to me, and no matter what you say or do, I am not going to let you split us up any longer! Call me selfish, blame me for not being the dutiful daughter... I just don't care anymore. I want to be with this woman here, Hanazono Shizuma. She makes me so happy and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. And if you can't live with that... Well, I've done pretty well for myself without you the past three years. And the way you've been treating us, I... I wouldn't... wouldn't mind not having you around anymore."

Shizuma wrapped an arm around Nagisa's waist and moved to sit her down on the couch. She had never been more proud of her love, but she could sense the outburst had taken a lot out of her. Nagisa didn't show it, but Shizuma could feel she was trembling and she could tell her beloved was close to bursting into tears. Nagisa kept a brave face, though, remaining strong.

"Sssh," Shizuma whispered to her love. "It's alright. I'm here."

But now that the floodgates were open, they would not close easily. Nagisa stood up again, again directing all her anger at her parents. "And don't think I don't know what really happened to my cat!"

Orito frowned. "Y-your cat was hit by a car, she..."

"Maneki was not sick!" Nagisa shouted back. "You brought Maneki to the vet and had her put to sleep when I was at school! Then you told me she was hit by a car and had to be put to sleep. There was nothing wrong with her!"

"Maneki really was hit by a car," Kaede sighed heavily. "She would have never been the same again. It's not fair to say..."

"She could have been saved! You know I would have wanted her to be saved! But it was cheaper and easier to have her put to sleep than to have her treated! And don't tell me otherwise, because I found the receipt in your study two years later, when I was fourteen! I never said anything about it until now," Nagisa sobbed and sank back to the couch where Shizuma was waiting to take her in a loving embrace.

"Why are you bringing this up now?!" Orito shrugged. "What does this got to do with anything?"

"Because you've taken so much things away from me. My cat. My love for music when you never came to any of my recitals. All you gave me were a lot of broken promises. When I was at Astraea Hill, you said you would visit me, but you never did. And now you want to take away my hopes and dreams for my future. But you can't take Shizuma away from me," Nagisa trembled visibly as she was finally spent. "I won't let you. I swear to God, I won't let you."

Both Orito and Kaede were dumbfounded for a moment, dumbfounded and utterly shell shocked. Still, the message was clear to them. Nagisa meant business and if they'd make her choose between her family and Shizuma, they would lose. Orito then glared at Shizuma... and she recognized that look. To him, she had now become the 'big bad evil dyke', who had corrupted his daughter's innocence.

_'Good', _Shizuma thought.

_'That makes things easier.'_

Shizuma reflected on how much her love had grown since the day they had first met in the woods just outside of Miator. Nagisa had become a strong young woman, ready to grasp what the world had to offer her with both hands. All without never losing her spirit.

_'You're so strong, Nagisa,'_ Shizuma thought as she held Nagisa close to her. _'Stronger than I ever was.'_

"Is... is this really what you want, sweetie?" Kaede asked.

Nagisa merely smiled at Shizuma and cuddled against her. That was all the answer that Kaede was going to get. Shizuma watched the woman for a moment and read a small measure of resignation in her expression. Orito, however, now that was a different story.

"Nagisa!" Orito went on the offensive as he rose from his seat. A move that would have been more impressive if he hadn't been wearing pajama's and fuzzy bunny slippers. "Girl, this is nonsense! I must..."

Shizuma quickly moved in between Orito and Nagisa and locked eyes with him. She made sure that he knew that she meant business: that he could read in her eyes that if he even were to take one step towards Nagisa, he'd seriously regret it. Though Shizuma wasn't exactly physically strong, and hadn't been participating in the Kendo club, she was an expert fencer. If she could grab hold of the poker over at the fireplace, she would be able to put Orito in the hospital in less than five seconds. And she was more than prepared to do so if he would do what she suspected he was planning to do to Nagisa.

Shizuma narrowed her eyes and continued to stare Orito down until he finally sighed and looked away. Tension slowly dissipated.

"You actually thought I would... I swear to you, Shizuma-san, that I was not going to hit my daughter," Orito spoke softly and something in his voice told Shizuma he was truthful and genuinely shocked that she had been expecting him to hit his daughter... her Nagisa. But that still was no reason for her to back down. "I would never do that. I was just..."

"Going to give me the speech on family honor and duty to God, right?" Nagisa said, then put her hand on Shizuma's shoulder. "It's okay, Shizuma. Father's never hit me in his life. And I don't think he's about to start," she spoke softly.

Shizuma still wasn't convinced, but backed down as well. She sat down next to Nagisa and took her hand, never taking her eyes of Orito.

"Father," Nagisa sniffed. "You want a better daughter? Well, maybe I'd like to have a better father! And I had one. I had a father who carried me home in his arms after I'd fallen off my first bike and scraped my knee. I had a father who comforted me when I was so scared to go to school for the first time. I had a father who read me stories at night to scare away the monsters underneath my bed. I had a father who gave me a kitty for my eighth birthday. I had a father who held me when I cried, and told me to stand up to the bullies that tormented me every day. What happened to him, father? What happened to him?"

Orito fell silent. And couldn't meet Nagisa's eyes for a moment. "Those were... different times."

Shizuma remained a silent observer, only lending Nagisa strength through her presence. There was an unspoken understanding between father and daughter for a moment. Nagisa wanted her father back, the father that Orito had been to her in the past. Orito, in turn, didn't seem to be sure that was possible. At least, not now. But the tension that had existed between the two of them was now mostly gone.

_'A truce? Or silence before the storm?' _Shizuma wondered.

There was a moment of silence. It was short in time, but long in experience. Finally, it was Kaede who spoke up. "So, where do we go from here, then? What do you propose, Nagisa-chan?"

Nagisa shook her head. "I've already made my choice," she smiled at Shizuma. "The ball's in your court. Don't get me wrong, you're my parents and I love you, despite everything that's happened. But I also truly love Shizuma and I want to be with her no matter what. I'm not going to let you push me around anymore. So it's up to you to decide... if you want to be in my life or not."

Shizuma realized just how hard this was for Nagisa. She knew much of Nagisa's mannerisms and habits and from the way she was trembling, she knew she was serious, but also very scared. Nagisa knew that there was no going back. But even though she was scared, her resolve didn't crumble.

Kaede stood up from the couch, and broke the unseen barrier that somehow existed between the two couples. Kaede sat down and took her daughter's hand. "Nagisa-chan, don't say that. We might not... entirely... agree with your decision, but you're still our daughter. You're still my child, that'll never change. Right, Orito?"

Orito said nothing for a moment.

"RIGHT, Orito?" Kaede hissed through her teeth as if to say 'I'm not going to lose my only child over your stubbornness'.

The man leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples. "Right," he sighed. "Nagisa-chan, you've certainly grown up since we've last seen each other." The tone of voice suggested he wasn't exactly happy with that, but there was an almost undetectable hint of a father's pride buried underneath as well.

"Well, then," spoke Kaede, this time focusing her attention to Shizuma. "Shizuma-san, I suppose we should contact your family."

Shizuma raised an eyebrow. Kaede took the hint. "We know next to nothing about you, after all. If you are to be our daughter's wife..."

"Don't say that!" Orito sighed heavily.

"If you are to be our daughter's WIFE," Kaede directed at Orito, putting him down again harshly. "It's only fair that we know a bit more about you. Who are your parents, where are you from, what are your plans for the future? Those are good questions, are they not?"

Shizuma looked at Nagisa and then at Kaede. "Fair enough. My family is just me and my father. I'm an only child and my mother died when I was very young. I'm afraid my father is away on business to the States right now. He's not in Japan much around this time of year, but I'll call him tomorrow and ask him when he'll be available to meet with you."

_'That should be fun', _Shizuma thought with a grin. Her father had no love for bigotry, after all. He was sure to give them both a hard time.

"Hang on a moment," Orito suddenly spoke. "Did you say your family name is Hanazono?"

"Yes," Shizuma frowned. "Why do you ask?"

"I... just had a thought," Orito said when he grabbed the economics section of the paper and leafed through it. Apparently having found the article that he was looking for, he looked from the paper to Shizuma to the paper again. "Is that Hanazono as in Hanazono Industry Group? Are you related to that family, Hanazono-san?" Orito asked.

Shizuma raised an eyebrow. "Yes. My father runs that company."

For a moment, Orito looked much like a goldfish on dry land. "Uhm," he gulped. "Your father is the head of the prestigious multi-billion yen Hanazono Industry Group?"

Shizuma sensed a miraculous change taking place right in front of her eyes. The kind of miracle that would usually require serious divine intervention to take place: Orito's opinion of Nagisa's choice was fast turning 180 degrees around.

And finally Shizuma understood. This had never been about social acceptance, nor Nagisa's happiness, or 'forbidden' love. Even the religious arguments were mere excuses. Aoi Orito was a simple upper middle class family man who wanted to move up in the world and was ready to sacrifice his own daughter's happiness to gain that tiny bit more prestige in society's eyes. Anger flared within her when she realized that all this narrow-minded little man had put them through was to satisfy his desire for just a little more social prestige. She was about to speak some thinly-veiled harsh words, but decided she needed to play her cards better here.

Shizuma decided to give Nagisa's mother the benefit of the doubt for now. He earlier words had been honest and judging by her remarks that she wouldn't allow Nagisa to be pressed into a loveless marriage, she must have had words with Orito about this matter before. She decided to save her ire for Orito.

"What, you mean you didn't know?!" Nagisa challenged.

Orito's cheeks turned a shade of red. "I, uh, never thought to check into Shizuma-san's background, because, well, I figured we, uh... were going to persuade you to... break up with her anyway, so..."

"And so... I had to... because you two didn't do your homework?!" Nagisa fumed. "I..."

Shizuma felt the need to intervene before Nagisa would ruin all she had achieved today. "Sssh," she said to Nagisa. "You've had your say. Don't overdo it, love."

Nagisa considered it, then nodded and smiled at Shizuma before cuddling up to her again.

"Well," Shizuma smirked as she decided to play her thrumph card. "If you are concerned that I cannot provide for Nagisa, there is no need to. At the moment, we are living of an amply sized thrust-fund, but I am still the sole heiress of the Hanazono family fortune and, one day, I will follow in my father's footsteps as head of the Hanazono Industry Group. My family's company has holdings all over the world, including in many European countries and in the United States. We have private residences in Milan, Luxemburg, New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and in many cities all over Japan. Perhaps you would like to see our luxury yacht sometime. It's docked in Tokyo."

Nagisa looked at Shizuma with questioning eyes. The silver-haired girl winked briefly and Nagisa quickly got the message.

"In fact," Shizuma pretended to think for a moment. "I think the total combined value of all our property would rival the GNP of a small country." Though the Hanazono family certainly wasn't wanting for many, Shizuma did exaggerate her family's wealth more than a little, but she so much enjoyed watching Nagisa's parents go three shades of pale. She just hoped Orito wouldn't call her bluff, otherwise she'd have to convince her hydrophobic father to buy a yacht, which would be more difficult than convincing a rabbit to part with his ears.

"My father is a very down-to-earth and kind man," Shizuma continued. "But ruthless in business, as these things go. But you should know that he absolutely adores Nagisa," she added, figuring it would be a good selling point. And it was the truth.

_'That did it,' _Shizuma concluded when she saw the look on Orito 'Whoa! Rich Shizuma's Rich Daddy Adores My Cute Daughter. I Must Move To Exploit This'-face. Orito-san had been almost completely won over, probably having realized his scheming would never be able to match the level of wealth and prestige that the Hanazono name could bring.

_Slam... _

_Dunk... _

_Score..._

In fact, Shizuma was surprised it had taken Orito so much time to put two and two together. Astraea Hill was the kind of school with a safe environment where the richest of the rich in Japan could entrust their daughters to. Still the tuition wasn't all that high and when push came to shove, it was a place where wealth didn't matter all that much and where girls from all walks of life could mix freely. And, of course, love freely, whichever came first.

Still, the rest of the night went over smoothly. Shizuma, Nagisa and her parents talked until daybreak. As was expected, Orito and Kaede double-teamed to subject Shizuma to a 3rd degree. They talked about her hopes, her dreams, her future, her education, her plans. Shizuma was careful to keep a few things hidden, though, despite Kaede's insistence. Still, Shizuma saw it as a sign that Nagisa's parents were slowly started to tinily accept her as a possible spouse for their daughter. Of course, even this tiny acceptance was superficial, as it was based more upon the wealth and prestige of her family name rather than based upon the love she shared with Nagisa... but then again, Orito and Kaede were dreadfully superficial people, so she supposed it was the best she would get.

She almost burst out in laughter when Kaede asked her if they were planning to adopt a child in the near future, despite her insistence earlier today not to. But she let it pass.

The smile on Nagisa's face was worth everything. Nagisa had not only stood up to her parents, but she also still had her love. Nagisa was the true winner today.

Finally, Nagisa and Shizuma managed to escape from the hotel room when the sun was already on the rise. Nagisa's parents had insisted on having breakfast with them, but both lovers declined. They had been up for a long time and were quite eager to get some sleep. Still, Shizuma had to promise Orito to get in touch with him as soon as she'd woken up.

Shizuma, in turn, promised herself to make Orito apologize to the both of them through the nose.

* * *

After everything that had happened the past couple of days, coupled with a long, long night of being questioned by Nagisa's parents, Shizuma was almost too tired to keep her eyes open while driving home. All she wanted to do was to go home, jump into bed and sleep the rest of Sunday away with Nagisa in her arms. Relief washed over her when she could finally park her car in front of their apartment block. "Nagisa?" Shizuma asked to the sleeping girl next to her.

"Huh?" Nagisa yawned after starting awake. "Are we there yet?"

"Yes," Shizuma yawned herself when Nagisa stretched groggily. The two girls almost crawled out of the car and dragged themselves up the stairs to their apartment.

"That went rather well, didn't it?" Shizuma whispered to a yawning Nagisa.

"Yeah," Nagisa chuckled in spite of herself. "If only we'd known they didn't know who you were, I could have just told them you are rich... Would have saved us a lot of trouble."

Shizuma smirked. "I suppose the rich are allowed to be eccentric. Insofar as being a girl in love with another girl could be considered eccentric."

"In that case," Nagisa giggled, "you'd be one big walking eccentricity."

"Hey!" Shizuma feigned indignity.

"It's funny," Nagisa mused. "We were a much tighter family before father was promoted. We didn't have much money back then, but we were a lot happier."

"Perhaps it's true what they say..."

Shizuma shook her head as they arrived on their floor. "We probably have another problem now. First your parents wanted to break us up, now they won't leave us alone," she said as her cellphone rang, alerting Shizuma to yet another text message that had arrived. The fifth so far.

Sleep was the only thing on their minds when Shizuma unlocked the door to their apartment. Suddenly, however, both girls found themselves confronted by visitors. One visitor in particular, a kindly man with silver hair dressed in a snazzy business suit, raced towards them and took both girls into a tight hug.

"Dad?" Shizuma blinked, wondering for a moment if she had keened over in the hallways and was dreaming all of this. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in the States on business."

"I couldn't sit idly by when my daughter's happiness is in jeopardy," mister Hanazono proclaimed. "I took the first plane back to Japan to give your parents a piece of my mind, Nagisa-chan."

"But..." Shizuma started. "How did you know?"

Glancing over her father's shoulder, Shizuma noticed two familiar girls sitting on the couch. Kaname and Momomi smiled at her and both gave her the peace-sign. And behind the two girls on the couch sat a very pickled Takashi, who was physically and mentally unable to take his eyes off Momomi's breasts.

"You're their Big Gun," Shizuma realized.

"Hey, Shizzy," Takashi hiccuped. "I let in the hot lesbians because I figured they were cool. Oh, by the way, I drank all your sake... Forgiveness please. I will replace everything as soon as the off-license opens. Some bottles might even make it to your home unopened!"

In the background, Momomi was pouring over Takashi's 'study material' and regarded the odd mangas from all angles. She tried to keep her expression neutral, but didn't always succeed.

Shizuma's father ignored the pickled boy and smiled at his daughter. "Those two nice girls gave me a call and told me everything. I have no idea how they managed to find my super secret cellphone number, but I'm glad they did. Why didn't you call me, Shizuma-chan?"

Shizuma smiled slightly. "I just... didn't want to bother you. Take care of things myself."

"It's alright," mister Hanazono said. "Nagisa, don't worry. There's no way I'll allow your folks to come between you and Shizuma. Nagisa, you gave me back my daughter and I shall never allow anyone to steal her joy from her again."

Nagisa blushed. "Thank you, Hanazono-san."

"Dad," Shizuma chuckled slightly. "I appreciate it, but you're a little late. It's already taken care of."

"Ey?"

"Yes," Nagisa shook her head. "Gender suddenly became a non-issue when my dad figured out that Shizuma comes from a rich and prestigious family."

"Hm," mister Hanazono frowned. "Lemme guess, upper middle class family tries to move up in the world by marrying off their daughter into status?"

Shizuma nodded while Nagisa hung her head low. "Well, her father wants me to call him later. But nice if you could call instead," she winked.

"Right," mister Hanazono chuckled. "I'll teach him a lesson, alright..."

"Hey! Don't be too cruel," Nagisa protested. "Despite everything... they're still my parents. And I do love them."

Shizuma gave her love an apologetic smile and kissed her on the top of the head. "You're just too nice, Nagisa. And that's one of the reasons why I love you so much."

"Not too cruel, then," mister Hanazono put a hand on Nagisa's shoulder. "So, seeing the problem is solved, allow me to take all of you to breakfast to celebrate."

Shizuma yawned briefly. "Normally, I'd love to but we've been up for way too long and speaking for myself only, I'm about to melt into a puddle."

Hanazono-san smiled. "Dinner tonight, then. I insist!"

"It's a deal," Shizuma smiled.

"Will there be cake?" Nagisa asked, which made Shizuma let out a slight chuckle.

Kaname and Momomi took this moment to jump off the couch. "Hanazono-san?" Kaname spoke. "Not to be presumptuous, but could use a bite to eat."

"Yes," Momomi spoke up. "We could do with some breakfast. Our fibre intake has been rather low. We could do with some quail eggs"

"Certainly," mister Hanazono said. "Let's go!"

"Hey," Takashi called after them. "Can I come have some free food with you and the two super hot lesbian chicks too?"

"Sure, the more the merrier!"

* * *

Shizuma and Nagisa said goodbye to mister Hanazono and her friends and dragged themselves to the bedroom as soon as the apartment was cleared. Nagisa dropped herself on the bed while Shizuma closed the curtains. Shizuma then quickly joined her lover on the bed and, just like Nagisa, had been simply to tired to change clothes. The two girls embraced gently and were asleep within seconds, free to dream about their future together.

That evening, the girls awakened and were preparing to go to dinner with her father. Apparently, the breakfast with their three friends had gone so well that her father had also invited Kaname, Momomi and Taskashi again this evening to join them for dinner.

Just as Shizuma came out of the shower and started brushing and blow drying her massive and luscious mane, the doorbell rang.

"Nagisa? Is that dad?!" Shizuma called over to the living room. "I'm not ready yet!"

"No, it's just Keitaro," Nagisa called back. Shizuma briefly wondered what the building manager wanted from them. There was nothing in their apartment which needed to be fixed.

Shizuma looked for a towel and wrapped it around her body before stepping out into the living room. She found Nagisa standing at the kitchen table over a simple cardboard box.

"Nagisa?" Shizuma asked.

Nagisa turned around. She was smiling and could barely keep her eyes dry. "Look at her, Shizuma," said Nagisa. In the simple cardboard box sat a young gray-striped kitten, mewing up affectionately. Nagisa picked her up and petted her gently. "Keitaro said someone left this box for me at the manager's office."

"What's this?" Shizuma took a small card from the box. "It reads. 'A peace offering. Four years too late, but better late than never'."

Nagisa smiled. "That's my father's handwriting. Do you think this gesture is... genuine?"

"Do you want to believe it's genuine?" Shizuma asked.

"It could be he's trying to butter me up to get to you. But... then again he didn't stay to toady up to you, that's a good sign," Nagisa smiled. "But, yeah, I really want to believe he's trying to make an effort to be my father again. I... just don't know. It's been so long since he's done something nice for me, I just wonder... But I want to believe. I really want to."

"Then believe it. It's a good start," Shizuma smiled as she petted the kitten in Nagisa's arms.

Shizuma hoped for her beloved wife that this was the start of a better relationship between Nagisa and her father, but she didn't dare. Though Shizuma could certainly live without Orito, she wasn't sure that Nagisa could.

"Can we keep her, Shizuma?" Nagisa asked. "Please?"

"Sure, Nagisa," she smiled. "I'm sure she'll be a wonderful addition to our household."

"Good practise for when we'll have a little one walking around in our house."

"You're really looking forward to that, aren't you?" Shizuma asked.

Nagisa smiled. "It's nice to think about it," she said. "But I know we aren't ready yet."

Shizuma smirked and took her Nagisa in a tight embrace. "I'll tell you what we are ready for. We are ready for me to make love to you with such intensity that sparks are going to fly."

"Shizuma!" Nagisa giggled. "Your father could be here any second!"

"Hmmmm," Shizuma purred. "In that case, let me just give you an appetizer for later tonight."

And while Shizuma treated Nagisa to a deeply passionate and soul-searching kiss, the as-of-yet nameless kitten started wandering off in search of a nearby scratching-post, all the while wondering why those two strange humans were rolling around on the rug.

* * *

A/N : Well, that's it for the main story. But I do have a nice epilogue for you, which will conclude this story. Sequel is already in planning stages.


	7. Epilogue : Happy endings all around

Hello everyone. First of all, let me thank you for reading this story and giving me encouragement along the way. This fluffy epilogue concludes Endless Love, but there are more Strawberry Panic stories on the way for those who are interested.

When first starting to write Endless Love, I had expected it to contain a lot more humor than the end result did, but sometimes you have to let the story tell itself. I'll certainly try to crank up the silliness factor for the planned sequel.

Special thanks to Lestaki, who gave me the great idea to include Miyuki in this epilogue. :)

* * *

**Epilogue : Happy Endings All Around**

**"Hello Japan and any nosy Gaijin listening in. I'm still new at this prime minister gig, but I wanted to take a moment to kindly thank all those voters who put their faith in yours truly. And all the voters who didn't, well... you'll learn. Trust me. You'll learn... In the meantime, I promise you, I will do my utmost to bring Japan back on the map! And even bigger than it was before! I've already started talks with my new minister of defense to work towards getting us some more space to work with. Hey, did you know we got a huge island up north that nobody knows about? It's called Hokkaido and it's filled with rice or something. How about that, huh? So, let me tell you all a story about a man called Stalin..."**

Nagisa switched off the radio as Shizuma drove their car over the road towards her old alma mater. "I don't get it," she told her beloved wife. "How the hell did Kaname-sama ever become prime minister? I mean, what is wrong with Japan?!"

"Don't you mean to ask 'Who the hell did Kaname _molest_ to become prime minister'?" Shizuma smirked.

"_I_ sure didn't vote for her," Nagisa pouted. "I just don't get it. Imagine Char Aznable as leader of the peace corps. That would make more sense than Kaname-sama being prime-minister."

"Just be glad Japan doesn't have a nuclear arsenal."

"You said it," Nagisa bit her lip. "Imagine Momomi-sama... Sorry I meant to say our new minister of defense... with her finger on the button."

Shizuma let Nagisa pout for a moment as she pulled the car to a stop on the parking lot at the foot of Astraea Hill. Twenty years it was, since she had graduated from Miator, twenty happy years with the woman sitting next to her. Loving her... Kissing her... Raising their two adopted daughters with her... Bliss...

But now that summer break had ended, and it was time for their eldest daughter to return to school.

Hanazono-Aoi Mariko was bouncing around impatiently in the back of the car, fiddling with the hems of her summer uniform. The third year was quite eager to return to the Astraea Hill, and not necessarily for the many academic interests the school had to offer.

"Full circle," Shizuma smiled.

"Yes," Nagisa said and turned to Shizuma to lean in for a brief kiss.

"Oh, ewwwwww!" sounded from the back of the car. "Haven't you two gotten enough of that last night? And the night before that? Sheez, at least soundproof the walls in my room, why don't you? Or move me to the other side of the house. It's not as if we have a shortage of rooms!"

As the brief kiss started to develop into a full-blown passionate open-lip soul-searching kiss of pure love, a sigh could be heard from the back of the car.

"I'm not waiting for you two slowpokes," Mariko admonished. "Ruri's up there!"

The sound of the car door slamming shut brought the two loves back to reality, just in time to see Mariko running up the path leading to Miator.

"She takes after her Shizuma-mama," Nagisa smiled. "Same rebellious streak."

"Hm?" Shizuma smirked. "But she has her Nagisa-mama's peppiness."

"Should we chase after her?"

"Sure," Shizuma winked. "Let's see if that short-cut through the forest is still there."

As it turned out, it was still there. Shizuma and Nagisa enjoyed the coolness of the forest as the path led them alongside the lake. So little had changed there since the time they had went to school, while so much had changed in their lives. Shizuma had taken over the position of head of her father's company after his retirement, but unlike him, Shizuma was a lot better at delegating her tasks, leaving her with plenty of time to spend with her family. Nagisa had found her calling in creative writing which kicked off her career as a novelist, mostly of children's literature. Aside from that, she often teamed up with Tamao to create poetry, light novels and scripts on the side. They were leading good lives.

"Wait," Shizuma stopped. Nagisa turned around and looked at her quizically. "Do you remember?"

Nagisa looked for a moment, but then smiled broadly. "This is where we first met."

Shizuma put her hand on the tree. It seemed to have grown a little since then. "Yes," Shizuma smiled. "You made quite an impression, hitting yourself in the face with your bookbag like you did."

Nagisa smiled. "You were standing there, just like you are now. And I was thinking what an incredibly pretty person you were. God, I fainted the moment your lips touched my forehead."

"I didn't quite realize it at the time," Shizuma replied as she let her hand run over the bark of the tree. "But when I touched your hand to give you back your little kitty clip, I was struck my lightning."

Nagisa frowned and scratched her head. "How did I ever get back to the school? I woke up in the nurse's office with Tamao-chan watching over me."

"I brought you," Shizuma smiled. "I wouldn't have left you there alone."

"It seems so long ago," Nagisa looked wistfully at the tree. She moved towards at and hugged Shizuma from behind. "I'm so glad we're together, Shizuma."

"Things really worked out for the best, haven't they?" Shizuma smiled. "Should we go to the school?"

Nagisa nodded. The two lovers made good time and arrived at the entrance of the Dorms before Mariko was even in sight, just in time to mingle with some of the other parents gathered around to say goodbye to their children for the rest of the school-year. Some of the parents here were old students whom she had known during her tenure at Miator... or had been one of her many paramours even, though she tended to avoid that line of thinking. Most of the girls who attended Astraea Hill were pretty well off.

It struck her again just how many parents here were, in fact, lesbian couples. Maybe it was right what everybody said about Astraea Hill: Either it turned girls to girl-love, attracted girls already into girl-love, simply created girl-love out of thin air or all of the above. All around her, parents and their daughters were mingling and talking among themselves.

"I don't see Tamao-chan," Nagisa looked into the ground. "Mariko'll be so disappointed if Ruri isn't here yet."

"I'm sure she'll be here," Shizuma said. "Tamao-san is ever punctual."

_'Ah, speak of the devil,' _Shizuma thought when she saw Tamao and her beloved Chiyo emerging from the school with a short blue haired girl in tow. The short girl brightened as soon as she noticed Shizuma and Nagisa, but after her eyes darted around them for a bit, she pouted in disappointment.

Nagisa and Tamao had remained room-mates after she and Shizuma had gotten together, but somewhere along the way, Tamao and Chiyo had started developing feelings for each other. Shizuma surmised this was because the both of them were always together making sure that she was treating Nagisa well and would not hurt her feelings. Chiyo had grown up into a beautiful young woman without losing her adorable qualities. While she had gained a lot more self-esteem, Chiyo still never stopped calling Nagisa onee-sama.

Shizuma was glad for them. Also because it made Nagisa feel considerably less guilty from basically abandoning Tamao at the altar. Shizuma was sure, however, that Chiyo must have been rather disturbed when Tamao had started measuring her and had started to make dubious voice recordings of her.

"Nagisa-chan!" Tamao shouted as she flew into Nagisa's arms for a deep hug. Chiyo did the same with Shizuma, though somewhat more gentle.

"Ribs... buckling... Must... breathe!" Nagisa stammered for a moment before Tamao reluctantly let go of her. As Chiyo moved to hug Nagisa, Tamao and Shizuma faced each other, eventually offering each other a somewhat forced smile and a curt nod.

"Tamao-chan, we've just seen each other last week," Nagisa scratched the back of her head. "You keep hugging me as if we haven't seen each other in years!"

Tamao simply smiled. "Nagisa-chan deserves to be hugged every single day as if it was the last time."

The short blue-haired girl with the yellow ribbons in her hair inched forward rather shyly. "Uhm, N-N-nagisa-san?" she asked with a tiny voice. "Is M-m-mariko-chan..."

"Hi there, Ruri-chan. Mariko-chan is taking the scenic route," Nagisa said gently. "I don't think she'll be long."

And she wasn't. A few moments later, a panting and tired Mariko came running up to the school. She brushed right past the gathered student body and her parents and flew right into the arms of the waiting Ruri.

"Ruri-chan, I missed you so much!" she exclaimed with tears in her eyes.

"M-m-mariko-chan! Yokatta!" Ruri relaxed visibly as she clutched to the older girl. Without as much as a word, the two girls ran off, destination unknown.

Shizuma smirked. "Well, that was fun."

"Oh, KAWAIIII!" Tamao closed her eyes. "Young love, so romantic... Hey, I just thought of something: If our girls marry each other, we'll all be related! Wouldn't that be fun?"

Shizuma frowned. "Yes, well, uh..."

Nagisa shot Shizuma her patented 'Don't-Say-A-Word-If-You-Still-Want-Some-Lovin-Tonight'-look. Thus, Shizuma wisely kept her mouth shut.

"All Mariko-chan could talk about was Ruri-chan, even when we were on holidays in Italy. I swear, those girls were on the phone every ten minutes," Nagisa smiled as the four of them made their way to the entrance. Shizuma saw to her delight that the current Etoiles were still doing a fine job with the floral arrangements.

Shizuma shook her head. "Yes, those girls of ours could keep the phone company in business on their own. It's gonna be one hell of a phone bill this month. Ah, well, as long as they're happy."

Shizuma chuckled to herself. She, Nagisa and their daughters had been on a three-week trip along the mediterranean. The girls had been on the phone almost constantly. Her daughter's obnoxious ringtone had been etched in Shizuma's mind as a result. They had called each other in the restaurants. At the beach. At the museum. On the bus. At the cinema (which they were promptly kicked out of by the ushers). At the amusement park... in fact, Mariko had tried to film a ride on the rollercoaster with her phone so that Ruri could experience the event as well. Unfortunately, the phone had been ripped from her hands during the ride, leaving the poor girl to go on a frantic search for it.

It had turned out that not only had the phone miraculously survived the fall, it had also been easy to locate because Ruri was wondering what had happened to the streaming video and had been calling her back non-stop to make sure if Mariko was okay.

As Nagisa, Tamao and Chiyo were quietly chatting, Shizuma reflected on her life once again. About ten years ago, they had decided together that they were ready to take on the responsibility to raise a child. Together, they visited the adoption service, but quickly found that they were both uncomfortable with the 'choosing' of a child. After some deliberation, they had decided it would be most fair to both them and their future child if they picked a file at random. They did so and after picking a file from the pile, they returned the rest to the adoption service unopened. The file they had chosen belonged to a girl called Mariko.

Shizuma smiled to herself as she recalled the day they drove to the agency to meet Mariko for the first time. Nagisa had been so nervous she was almost trembling. Shizuma hadn't been so calm herself, in fact. Five minutes later, they had met Mariko, then a plucky five-year old with orange hair and a defiant look in her eyes. Mariko had seemed to be regarding them for a while, and Nagisa had been the first to speak, nervously telling her how her room was all ready and how much she was looking forward for her to join them. Mariko had simply frowned and told them: 'Hey, hold on a moment. I don't even know if I like you two yet! I want to know if I like you first before I let you adopt me'.

It was then that Shizuma knew they had found their child. Nagisa had been dumbstruck, though it went very well in the end. Mariko had dozens of questions, most prominently the question why both of her prospective parents were both girls. At first she thought they were sisters, but Mariko had quickly revealed herself to being open to the idea that girls could fall in love with each other.

When Mariko-chan had joined their happy family, things had only gotten better... though they both knew they were in trouble when Mariko's first written assignment for school was titled : 'When I grow up, I wanna be a Pirate!'.

Mariko was a nice girl, if a bit of a handful. But she had a tendancy to take care of others. She had taken Ruri-chan under her wing from the day they had first met and the two had been friends ever since. Ruri, a painfully shy child, had been adopted by Chiyo and Tamao when she was seven and Shizuma had nothing but respect for them for taking on the difficult task of giving love to a child with a history of physical abuse. And she was also proud of her daughter for being so dedicated to making sure that Ruri would enjoy life.

_'Hm, come to think of it,'_ Shizuma thought to herself. _'A marriage between those two wouldn't be unexpected'. _She knew for a fact that the two girls had kissed: she'd caught them pressing lips in the kitchen and managed to sneak away again before they'd notice her.

The latest addition to their family, little Aki had joined them two years ago. Aki was a shy but playful girl who looked at what the world had to offer in wonder and awe. She could be focused on a single facet of life to the point of obsession, but she had a wonderful strength of character.

Shizuma frowned when she suddenly noticed the Sister sternly patrolling the grounds. The Sister stood still for a moment, regarded the people in the yard, and then stomped off in the direction of the stables. "Probably looking for Yaya and Tsubomi," Shizuma said, remembering that last year, Yaya and Tsubomi had snuck off to the kitchen, were caught by the sister having sex there and were subsequently both chased off school-grounds half naked. The year before that, they had sex in the stables. The year before that, on the top floor of the bell tower... only to be rudely and loudly interrupted during their bliss because they had lost track of time.

"I hear she and Tsubomi just adopted a second child. A little girl," said Chiyo.

"That means their saga will continue," Tamao giggled. "One day, they're going to run out of places to make out."

"Hah!" Shizuma laughed. "They'd probably invent new places when it comes around to that."

As Nagisa was talking with a very animated Chiyo and Tamao about a possible wedding between their daughters in the far future, Shizuma followed along as they walked towards the dorms, until, from the corner of her eye, Shizuma noticed the one person she was looking for. She excused herself and quickly headed to the other side of the square, where she found Miyuki together with her young daughter Rei, who was in her first year here at Miator.

Miyuki smiled at her as she approached and the two friends shared a hug for a moment.

"Hi, aunty Shizuma-sama!" little Rei pulled on Shizuma's jeans. The little girl simply looked adorable in her Miator uniform.

"Hey there, Rei-chan," Shizuma said gently.

"Rei-chan," Miyuki said softly. "Could you find your friends for just a little while? I need to talk to aunty Shizuma for a moment, okay honey?"

"Okay," Rei giggled and ran off. "Bye-bye!"

Shizuma waved goodbye to the playful Rei for a moment before turning back to her friend. "You look well, Miyuki," Shizuma said.

"I feel well too. Better than I've felt in a long, long time," Miyuki replied.

And she was right. After almost twenty years of unhappy marriage to a man she didn't love, and after an equal amount of time of Shizuma and all her friends trying to convince her, Miyuki had decided to choose for herself. As a result, her family had disowned her and she had faced her ex-husband's wrath in court over a very, very ugly custody battle.

For a moment, there had been a real chance that Miyuki would never be allowed to see her children again... until Shizuma had learned what was going on and had lent Miyuki a phalanx of her company lawyers. It had been a tough fight, but Miyuki had come out on top. Still, it had taken a lot out of her, and Miyuki had spend some time recovering alone with her children at one of Shizuma's summer homes.

"I never got the chance to thank you for offering me a job," Miyuki spoke. "I'm eager to have something for myself again."

Shizuma smirked. "It'll be good to have you around again too. All those other girls, well, they were just too intimidated by me. I need a personal assistant who's not afraid to stand up to me and tell me I'm being a lazy ass dead-beat before she drags me back into the office."

"It'll be strange to be in that role again," Miyuki spoke. "I'm not sure I'll do well. I've been a trophy wife for so long."

"I'm sure you'll pick it up again," Shizuma said. "So... you're gonna tell me how you've managed to bag that actress? Ten years younger than you as well. Nice going."

"Uhm," Miyuki blushed. "I, uh..."

"Yeeessssssss?" Shizuma smirked. "I'm listening."

"Well, uh, Ayaka and I met at one of my ex-husband's boring high-society parties," Miyuki smiled gently. "Let's just say that she was as bored as I was. We escaped to the garden and talked for hours."

"I see," Shizuma half-smiled. "I gather the torrid love-affair that followed was a contributing factor to you filing for divorce?"

Miyuki's deep blush told the entire story. Because Miyuki just didn't blush.

She never blushed.

Until now.

"And why didn't you tell Shizuma, hm?" Shizuma smirked.

Miyuki blushed slightly. "We both didn't want to risk it. The less people who knew, the less chance that... Well, I suppose it's a moot point now anyway."

"I guess I'll be reading all about it in Nagisa's idol magazines soon enough," Shizuma chuckled.

Miyuki paled. "W-will they really write about this?"

"Ayaka's an idol. As soon as those papparazzi'll get wind of this..."

Miyuki brooded over that a little. She really didn't want her name plastered all over the tabloids, preferring some peace and quiet after a very tumultuous year.

Shizuma and Miyuki stood together in silence for a moment.

"Shizuma?"

"Yes?"

"How are things between you and Nagisa?"

"More than fine," Shizuma replied with a smile. "We're so very happy."

"I'm glad," Miyuki said. "You belong together. But... I've been wondering about something for a long time now, and I would like an honest answer. Please don't misjudge my question. It's simply about what could have been."

"Sure," Shizuma replied. "Ask."

"Shizuma," Miyuki started. "If... both Kaori and Nagisa hadn't been in our lives. Would... Could it have been possible that..."

Shizuma nodded. "If our lives had been different," she said honestly. "We'd be bringing _our_ children to school today."

Miyuki considered this and then smiled at Shizuma. "Thank you. You have no idea how much it means to me to hear you say that."

"Where's little Hiro?" Shizuma asked, changing the subject. "Didn't you bring him along?"

Miyuki shook her head. "Ayaka's hitting the town with him. She really wants to be a mother for my children. And, what about your little Aki?" she said, referring to the second child she and Nagisa had adopted some three years ago.

"At her grandfather's house," Shizuma said. "Probably being spoiled rotten. I think my father is overcompensating a little. I think he's feeling a bit guilty that he hasn't been more of a father to me when he could. He's a good man. What about you? Any contact with you family, after..."

Miyuki shook her head. "I've been almost completely cut off. I only have some short chats with my little brother every now and then when he can get away with it, but... It's been tough."

"Crybaby," Shizuma winked.

"Hey!" Miyuki playfully raised an eyebrow.

"You have Rei, Hiro and Ayaka. And your friends," Shizuma smiled.

Miyuki nodded and pointed at the other side of the square where Nagisa was standing. Shizuma followed her gaze and found Nagisa standing there and waving at her.

"Your wife is waiting for you, Shizuma," Miyuki said. "Better go to her."

"I will," Shizuma smiled and took a moment to wave back. "It's good to see you again, Miyuki."

"I will see you again monday, at your office," Miyuki said. "Nine o'clock sharp."

Shizuma crossed her arms. "Hey, I'm the boss. I can come into the office whenever I please."

"Nine... o'clock... sharp..." Miyuki stressed.

"But... I'm the boss..."

"That's what you think," Miyuki smirked. "Playtime is over, Shizuma."

As Miyuki walked off to find Rei, Shizuma wondered just what the hell her simple act of kindness had gotten her into.

After Shizuma returned to Nagisa, they managed to tear themselves away from Tamao and Chiyo, though they had to promise to meet them later for dinner. Together, arm in arm, the two lovers walked across the compound where they had spent a great part of their youth.

"Ah, the pool," Nagisa smiled as the two lovers arrived at the pool overlooking the bay in the distance. "We had our first kiss here, twenty years ago."

"I never apologized for pushing you in," Shizuma said.

Nagisa smiled as she pressed against the love of her life and wrapped an arm around her waist. "No need. I was the one who pulled you in, I think. Remember the fireworks we watched from here? That first time just before we first kissed... and then that second time, just before I graduated?"

"When I asked you to marry me?" Shizuma recalled fondly. She hadn't been nervous at all that day. She knew what she wanted and it was for Nagisa to share her life with her. If Nagisa was willing to do so, naturally. And to her everlasting joy, she had been willing. Of course, like all married couples, they had had their share of problems, but they had never lasted long. Life with Nagisa had been perfect, just perfect. They'd gotten married again six years ago when gay marriages had finally become legal in Japan. At first they hadn't felt it necessary, seeing they had already been married in their hearts almost 14 years before at the time. Still, Nagisa's parents had insisted that the wedding be performed, if only for the bragging rights. And in the end, she was glad she did. It had been a simple, but beautiful Shinto ceremony, and nothing had given her more joy than to offer the tamagushi to the altar together with her blushing bride.

The problems surrounding Nagisa's parents had never ended completely. Though they had become more docile, their presence and actions kept causing aggravation. Nagisa and Shizuma had gotten into a huge fight after they had first adopted Mariko. Of course the proud grandparents wanted to meet their new grandchild and wanted to take her along with them on a trip to Italy. Nagisa wanted to allow it, but Shizuma had objected because she didn't want Mariko to stay with 'those people' alone and unsupervised for three weeks. Things had gotten so bad that Shizuma had slept on the couch for a week.

Shizuma smiled to herself. Sure, she might have lost the argument... but the make-up sex had been beyond incredible.

Of course, when the proud grandparents had returned their Mariko to the fold, both parents, and especially Shizuma, were ready to commit murder. Despite the fact that Shizuma and Nagisa had decided that their children could decide for themselves what religion they wanted to follow when they'd be old enough, Orito and Kaede had taken it upon themselves to have Mariko baptized.

Thankfully, Mariko wasn't easily swayed. She'd later told them she'd only gone along with her grandparents's baptism scheme because they'd promised to get her a swing-set when they'd get back to Japan. They both agreed they'd never let Orito and Kaede take Aki anywhere near anything even resembling a church. Little Aki was far too impressionable.

"Shizuma?"

Shizuma looked deeply in Nagisa's eyes. "Hm?" she asked.

"I love you, Shizuma."

"I love you too, Nagisa."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW," sounded from the bushes nearby as the two leaned in for a kiss.

Shizuma laughed briefly. "Looks like we have an audience."

"Shizuma? Do you think Mariko-chan and Ruri-chan will let us use their shower?"

"Huh? Why do you as..." But before Shizuma could finish that sentence, she felt herself being pushed back. Before she knew what was going on, both she and Nagisa ended up dunking into the pool. For a moment, panic took hold of Shizuma, until she felt Nagisa's soft lips pressing down upon hers. As they slowly sank to the bottom, Shizuma relaxed and stared up to the light above.

_'Kaori,' _Shizuma thought. _'Thanks for looking out for us'. _With that, Shizuma closed her eyes and started kissing back Nagisa, enjoying the moment before the need for air would drive them to the surface again. They had really come full circle.

Two more splashes sounded and soon enough, Shizuma felt someone tugging at her arm. It wasn't long before they were back on the surface and she found herself looking at the worried faces of Mariko and Ruri. "Are you okay, Shizuma-mama, Nagisa-mama?" Mariko asked.

"We saw you fall in!" Ruri exclaimed. "We had to jump in too to save you!"

Nagisa and Shizuma exchanged glances and both started to laugh.

"Hey, this isn't funny," Mariko pouted. "Seriously, what kind of people make out at the bottom of a swimming pool?! You could have drowned and I would have been an orphan again! Once was enough!"

"Sorry, Mariko-chan," Nagisa said as she hugged her daughter while doggy-paddling... not an easy feat. "We were just having a little fun. Though, it would be nice if we could use your shower to clean up."

It was just then that the Sister rounded about the corner, and it wasn't long before she stood at the edge of the pool scowling at the four fully clothed persons in the pool. She just tapped her foot and offered a smiling Shizuma and an embarrassed Nagisa that patented 'It's always the parents who are to blame'-look.

Shizuma was the first to break out in laughter. No doubt this would end up with a fun visit to the Sister's office for a lecture on responsible parenting and preserving the dignity of Miator.

But then again, what was new?

* * *


End file.
